Welcome to Storybrooke
by deadly sorrow
Summary: Well, now that the Savior was in town, I had a feeling things were going to get very interesting, very quickly. Hopefully she'd end up breaking the curse instead of causing even more trouble for us. Companion to 'Say You'll Remember' about Lily's role in the first two seasons.
1. Pilot

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot and any unrecognizable characters and dialogue**

**Well, I hope you like this, I'm not too sure about doing this story but let me know what you think!**

**Lily is my OC and is a love interest of Peter Pan, though he will not be in this story. He is in my stories 'Say You'll Remember' and "No One Escapes' however.**

* * *

_I dismounted my horse as Charming nearly jumped off his, his eyes wide as he ran towards the class coffin, surrounded by the dwarves. I walked forward but held back, aware that I was intruding on their sorrow._

_"You're too late." I closed my eyes when Charming's despair washed over me, adding to the sorrow coming off the others as well. Gritting my teeth, I moved forward._

_"No, no!" Charming responded brokenly, gently touching the lid of the coffin and staring at Snow White's face. He looked up at the dwarves. "Open it."_

_The burly looking one with dark hair glared at the prince._

_"I'm sorry, she's gone." Charming looked at them helplessly, his voice soft as he looked back down at his love. I remained silent with my hood up, aware that they might not react positively to my presence. As three of the dwarfs glanced at each other and shrugged at the prince's request, I smiled softly, aware of how to break this particular curse._

_When the lid was removed and Charming stared down at her still features, I moved forward, speaking softly as the other men looked at me with distrust._

_"Kiss her." Wide-eyed, he looked at me and nodded slightly when I repeated my command, firmer than before. "Kiss her, Charming."_

_He leaned forward and gently pressed his lips against her's and, to my satisfaction, a soft gold ring expanded from their lips with a soft whoosh and a light breeze picked up, causing all the dwarves to look around in surprise. I looked back at the princess and smiled when her eyes fluttered open with a soft gasp._

_Panting lightly, she looked around and when her gaze landed on Charming, she smiled softly._

_"You." He nodded and she reached up, placing a hand on his cheek. "You found me."_

_"Did you ever doubt I would?" He teased, placing a hand on her lower back to help her into a sitting position. She smiled softly and looked around, her hand still cradling his face._

_"Truthfully-the glass coffin gave me pause." Charming smiled brightly and shook his head, his voice warm._

_"Well, you don't have to worry. I will always find you." Snow White smiled warmly at him, her voice soft and hopeful._

_"Do you promise?" He nodded once._

_"I do."_

_0o0o0o0_

_"And do you, Snow White, promise to take this make to be your husband and love him for all eternity?" I smiled faintly at the couple, holding back the grin that threatened to overtake my face when Doc nudged me as Snow answered._

_"I do."_

_"I now pronounce you husband, and wife." I rolled my eyes as they kissed fiercely, their love clear and I chuckled softly when one of the other dwarves elbowed Grumpy, who grunted at him but began to clap with everyone else. The couple turned to their subjects, who were still cheering wildly, though the noise died down immediately when the doors banged open._

_I turned, somehow not surprised to see the Evil Queen standing in the doorway, her red lips set in a smirk._

_"Sorry I'm late." She waltzed forward, uncaring as the people cowered away from her, and when two guards tried to charge her, she simply waved her hand and they disappeared in a puff of smoke. I moved forward as Doc rushed up to Snow._

_"It's the Queen, run!" He hissed frantically and I rolled my eyes, still unsure as to why they were so afraid of her. Snow, it seemed, was thinking along the same lines as she glared hatefully at the other woman and grabbed her husband's sword, pointing it at Regina._

_"She's not a queen anymore. She's nothing more than an evil witch!" Charming, to my amusement, attempted to wrestle the sword from his wife's grip._

_"No, no, no. Don't stoop to her level, there's no need." He managed to take it from a pissed off looking Snow and glared Regina as well. "You're wasting your time, you've already lost." His voice hardened as I stepped forward, the dwarves following me. "And I will not let you ruin this wedding." Charming swore, his white-knuckled grip on the sword's hilt._

_Regina simply smiled serenely the entire time, her eyes burning with hate._

_"Oh, I haven't come here to ruin anything." I snorted, drawing her attention to me, though I simply sneered at her before she dismissed me, her upper lip curling as she turned her attention back to Charming. "On the contrary, dear, I've come to give you a gift."_

_"We want nothing from you-"_

_"But you shall have it." I raised an eyebrow, a quick glance at Snow telling me that she was more than pissed about Regina being here. "My gift to you," Regina waved her hand around lightly. "Is this happy, happy day." She paced in front of us, still smiling. "For tomorrow, my real work begins." She pointed at her step-daughter and her husband. "You made your vows, now I make mine."_

_Wary now, I stared at her, aware that she hadn't come all this way, to where she was banished, just to gloat._

_"Speak, Regina." Her cold gaze flickered to me and I kept my face blank as I spoke, my words low and harsh. "Or I will kill you this time."_

_She sneered at me before turning back to the married couple._

_"Soon, everything you love, everything all of you love," she gestured to the entire room and my eyes widened. "Will be taken from you, forever. And out of your suffering will rise my victory." I stared hard at her as she slowly stalked closer to Snow and Charming, and gripped Grumpy's arm as he made to go forward._

_"Don't!" I hissed softly and glared back at him before I turned my attention to Regina._

_"I shall destroy your happiness, if it is the last thing I do." I watched in muted anger as she turned around and stalked away, unsurprised when Charming yelled after her._

_"Hey!" Nor was I surprised that after he yelled, he decided to throw his sword at her, grunting with the effort. I sighed as Regina disappeared in a cloud of black smoke, the sword clattering to the ground as Snow and CHarming held each other, both shaken up._

_I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose as Grumpy tugged on my arm._

_What a way to celebrate a wedding._

* * *

"Lily!" I turned around, wincing when I saw a terrified Regina stalking towards me, her coat flowing behind her as she all ran across the street. I raised an eyebrow but said nothing, inwardly hoping that she wouldn't break a heel and need my help to the hospital.

"Yes, Madame Mayor?" She glared at me, panting softly for several moments before she sucked in a breath and spoke.

"Why isn't Henry at home like he's supposed to be?" I blinked at her accusing tone and replied with a frigid one of my own.

"He told me this morning that you would be getting him off the bus this afternoon, that you had taken a half-day today." Her face fell at my words and, in response to the panic that flashed across her pale face, I softened my voice. "Regina, you don't think he-"

"He ran away." I blinked at her miserable words and, before she could react, I turned around, throwing a reply over my shoulder.

"I'll talk to Gold and then I'll head to Henry's favorite spots." I lowered my voice even more at the anguish clinging to her. "We'll find him, Regina."

As I walked away from her, I couldn't stop the smirk from forming on my face as I jogged across the street to the pawn shop.

The Savior was coming.

* * *

_"Lillith!" I turned around and raised an eyebrow at the sight of Charming and pregnant Snow clad in plain, rough-spun brown cloaks._

_"What-"_

_"We're going to visit him," he continued, ignoring my stunned eyes. "And we need you to come with us, for protection."_

_Unable to respond, I nodded once and pulled the hood of my cloak over my head. I glanced at a worried looking Snow but didn't comment on the fact that her husband seemed very upset with her._

_"Let's not waste any time then."_

_0o0o0o0_

_"When we reach the cell, stay out of the light and whatever you do, do not let him know your name." I rolled my eyes at the guard as he led us down the steps into the barely lit room, though I was more annoyed with the glares he gave me over not accepting a different cloak. "If he knows your name, he will have power over you." He walked ahead fo us, his voice harsh as he called for my mentor._

_"Rumpelstiltskin, Rumpelstiltskin! I have a question for you!" I held in a smile of amusement when I say a form nimbly jump through the cell, accompanied by a trilling laugh and voice._

_"No, you don't! _They_ do..." He pressed his face against the bars and I smirked lightly at my mentor, his attention flitting to me for a brief second. "Snow white...and," he smirked as he said Charming's name. "Prince Charming." he mocked before glancing at me again, his golden eyes glinting in the dim light. "And Lillith is here as well! This is a party, isn't it?"_

_I nodded my head once as he looked at the others and laughed madly._

_"You insult me! Step into the light and take off those ridiculous robes!" After sending a quick, cursory glance at me, which I nodded to, the couple followed Rumple's instruction and pulled their hoods down._

_"Ah." He cackled lightly, his face twisted with glee. "That's much better." Charming stepped forward, nearly shielding his wife and I smiled secretly when I felt the irritation coming off both her and Rumple at the prince's actions._

_"We've come to ask you about the-"_

_"Yes, yes! I know why you're here!" He spat gruffly, pressing his face between the bars again, his attention directed to Snow. "You want to know about the Queen's threat."_

_"Tell us what you know." He smiled at Snow's terse words._

_"Oh, tense, aren't we?" His smile widened when her face tightened and I shook my head. "Fear not! For I can ease your mind!"_

_"Don't tease her, Rumple." He smiled cheekily at me._

_"I wouldn't dream of it, dear Lillith!" I rolled my eyes as he returned his attention to the expectant looking princess. "But, it's gonna cost you something in return, dear Snow."_

_"No! This is a waste of time-" Snow spoke, cutting over her husband's irritated words._

_"What do you want?" Rumple's face nearly split with glee, which I eyed with some concern._

_"Oh, the name of your unborn child." When Charming spat hatefully at my mentor, I agreed with him, knowing exactly how precious a name was._

_"Absolutely not!_

_"Deal!" I twisted my head to Snow, surprised that even she would go this far. "What do you know?"_

_Rumple gripped the bars, his face filled with far too much glee for my liking._

_"Oh," he chuckled lightly, as if telling a joke instead of the possible destruction of everyone. "The Queen has created a powerful curse and it's coming. Soon, you'll all be in prison, just like me." His voice darkened and I stepped forward, suspicion sinking into my chest as he continued. "For your prison, and of our prisons, will be time. For time will stop, and we will be trapped someplace horrible, where everything we hold dear, everything we love, will be ripped from us." His voice grew gruff as he continued, hysteria dripping from him. "While we suffer, for all eternity, while the Queen celebrates," He waved a hand, his words went higher and he sounded absolutely mad. "Victory, at last."_

_Shocked, I finished his rant, my words quiet and despondent compared to him._

_"No more happy endings." Snow glanced from me to Rumple, her voice wary._

_"What can we do?" Rumple nearly cackled again, his expression lifting._

_"We can't do anything." Snow moved closer, despite Charming's hand on her arm._

_"Who can?"_

_"That little thing growing inside your belly." I reacted when Rumple extended his hand down towards Snow's protruding belly, though I was grateful when Charming beat me to it. He unsheathed his dagger and violently brought it down on RUmple's hand, his voice harsh._

_"Next time I cut if off." Rumple made a noise of protest and snapped his hand back to his side, glaring silently at the prince before he tsked softly._

_"The infant if our only hope. Get the child to safety," he returned his attention to Snow, his eyes glinting madly. "Get the child to safety and on its...twenty-eigth birthday, the child will return." I glanced at Snow's pained face as Rumple continued. "The child will find you and the final battle will begin!" He cackled madly at that, which prompted Charming to react._

_"I've heard enough, we're leaving!" He gripped Snow's arm and this time, she didn't fight him when he steered her the other way, calling to me. "Lillith, come on." I nodded, eager to get away from Rumple as he seemed far more unhinged than usual, which was saying a lot. As Rumple continued to cackle behind us, I stiffened when his laughter turned into angry shouts._

_"Hey! You! We made a deal!" I stopped, along with Snow as he continued to yell, his voice desperate. "I want her name! We had a deal, I need her name! H-h-her name!" I glanced at Charming, who had turned and was glaring at the mad imp in the cage._

_"Her? It's a boy." Completely ignoring the prince, Rumple cooed at Snow._

_"Missy, Missy. You know I'm right. Tell me her name." Slowly, Snow turned around, her voice defiant even as I gave her a hard look._

_"Emma."_

* * *

"Where could he be?!" I shared a glance with Sheriff Graham but said nothing as Regina continued to anxiously pace around the phone, pulling at her short hair.

"I'm sure he's fine, Regina. How far could he have gone?" I gave Graham an irritated look when his words, meant to be soothing, only succeeded in making Regina worry more.

"Good job, Sheriff." I huffed as he moved forward, attempting to make the nearly hysterical woman sit down while ordering me to go and find the alcohol.

I rolled my eyes but did as he said, suddenly wishing that I was my real age, so I could drink some of the amber liquid. Graham peeked his head around the door, his expression anxious.

"This is gonna be a long night."

* * *

_"I say we fight!" Charming thumped his fist on the table and I shared an amused look with Grumpy but said nothing, content to simply watch the prince fume and rant as his wife despondently sat at his side._

_"Fighting is a bad idea." I glanced at Jiminy in irritation, still not sure why we took the advice of a bug. Clearly, Charming agreed with me for once as he glared down at the cricket._

_"And how many wars has a clear conscious won?" When Jiminy offered no argument, Charming looked around at the rest of us. "We need to take the Queen out, before she can inflict her curse."_

_"Can we even trust Rumpelstiltskin?" I glanced at Doc, biting back a scathing retort._

_"I've sent my men into the forest, the animals are abuzz with the Queen's plan." His face lost it's fierceness. "This is going to happen unless we do something."_

_"There's no point. The future is written." I glanced over at Snow in mild surprise, sharing a look with Red as we took in her slouching and depressed aura. Charming leaned down to her, softening his voice ever so slightly._

_"No, I refuse to believe that. Good can't just win." Snow finally looked up from her lap, her eyes fierce as she regarded her husband._

_"Maybe it can." He leaned closer and I resisted the urge to groan into my hands, smirking at Grumpy when he made a soft, disgusted noise in the back of his throat._

_"No, not as long as we have each other. If you believe him about the curse, then you believe him about our child." Snow, who looked like she was going to smack her husband, glanced at me. "She will be the Savior."_

_"What do you think, Lillith? You know Rumpelstiltskin's powers better than anyone." I kept my eyes locked with Snow's as I spoke, aware of the eyes of everyone else._

_"His powers of precognition are powerful, but even he can't see every piece of the puzzle. Even still, if he says it is to happen," I sighed deeply, as afraid as the rest of them. "It will happen."_

_Charming's most likely scathing retort was cut off by the door banging open, causing us all to turn towards the sound as Blue Fairy flew in, followed by guards dragging in what looked to be...a tree._

_"What the hell is this?"_

_"Our only hope of saving that child." I glanced up at Blue disbelieving while Grumpy spoke._

_"A tree? Our fate rests on a tree?" He turned back to Charming, face screwed up in displeasure. "Let's get back to the fighting thing."_

_"The tree in enchanted." I glanced up at blue as she hovered to Charming. "If fashioned into a vessel, it can ward off any curse." She turned towards the elderly man seated across from me. "Geppetto, can you build such a thing?"_

_He nodded, gently patting his son on the head._

_"Me and my boy-we can do it." Blue nodded and turned back towards Charming and a now hopeful looking Snow.,_

_"This will work, we all must have faith." I narrowed my eyes._

_"I sense a 'but' coming." She looked down at me, her gaze distasteful before she nodded and turned back to the royals as Snow grabbed Charming's hand tightly, gazing up at him with a smile. "Lillith is right. There is, a catch: the enchantment is indeed powerful, but all power has its limits. And this tree can only protect one."_

_I looked around, my eyes zeroing in on Snow's now ashen face as she stared at the fairy._

* * *

I blinked at the sound of voices and looked at Regina, who practically leapt from her seat and ran to the door. Graham sighed with relief and followed me when I took off after Regina.

"Henry!" She slammed the door open and raced down the sidewalk, her voice cracking. "Oh, Henry!" She clutched him tightly, cupping his face when she pulled back. "Oh, are you okay? Where have you been?"

"Henry!" I said, my eyes wide as he pushed away from his mother.

"I found my _real _mom!" I groaned inwardly as he pushed past us, running through the door, passed a surprised Sheriff and up the stairs. I glanced at Regina, my voice hesitant.

"I'll..." I glanced at the blond, knowing that this was the Savior, and met her gaze, noting that she looked like Snow. "I'll go check on him."

"Was that his sister?" I heard the woman ask as I passed Graham, who looked extremely uncomfortable.

"No, his baby-sitter."

"His baby-sitter is British?" I tuned out the fading voices and knocked on Henry's door softly.

"Henry?" He didn't respond so, taking that as I wasn't about to be attacked, I slipped into the room quietly to see Henry sulking on his bed.

"Henry? Why did you go and find your birth mom?" He shrugged and continued to read from his fairytale book. I arched an eyebrow and tsked softly. "Oh, I see." I sat down next to him and, at the sound of footsteps, leaned closer to whisper in his ear.

"Henry, you did a wonderful thing." He smiled brightly, though it faded when Graham came through the door, gently chiding Henry about scaring his mother like that. After a few minutes, Henry managed to get Graham to leave by claiming exhaustion and, leaving me to put the boy to bed, the Sheriff nearly ran out the door, to my amusement.

"Sis, do you think it'll work?" I glanced back at him from the door and nodded, smiling secretly at him.

"Yes. It will." I kissed him briefly on the head before I headed down the stairs, hesitating at the doorway to Regina's office.

"Regina?" She glanced away from the blond with a nod.

"I need to be getting back to Granny's, if that's alright." She nodded again, smiling gently at me while I gave the blond another appraising look.

"Yes, just make sure that you're here tomorrow to take Henry to the bus stop and," I inwardly rolled my eyes at her scolding tone. "Next time, ask me if you're not supposed to get him off the bus."

I nodded and turned around with a short wave of goodbye. As I left the house, I smirked darkly and headed not to Granny's but to the pawn shop, ready to share the good news with Gold.


	2. The Thing You Love Most

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot and any unrecognizable characters or dialogue.**

**Sorry I didn't get this up sooner, I got very distracted with my other story and the holidays.**

* * *

I walked up the path to Regina's house, hoping that I wouldn't get involved in a fight between its occupants again. I reached out ot knock, my hand freezing just as it touched the wood at the sound coming from behind me.

Almost disbelieivng, I slowly turned around as the clock tour chimed. A small smile flitted actoss my lips and I whirled back around when the door slammed open, a happy looking Henry storming out of the hosue like he was being chased. I caught him by the shoulders and, after taking one look at his face, I peeked my head into the hosue and called out.

"Madame Mayor, I'm walking Henry to school! We'll see you at five!" With that, I yanked my head out of the doorway and slammed the door before I gripped Henry's hand and marched down the walkway. As soon as we were several hosues away, Henry relaxed. "Did you win a fight with Regina or something?"

He shrugged at my question and, still looking mildly pleased, he steered us towards Granny's. I stopped, pulling him back to me and I pointed with my thumb in another direction as his brow furrowed.

"Unless the geography of the town has changed while I wasn't looking, school is that way." He smiled, clearly me be snarky wasn't going ot ruin his good mood, and he turned back towards the diner, his voice light and happy.

"I know." He shot me a mischeivous glanced over his shoulder. "But Emma, is that way."

Shaking my head as he resumed walking, I allowed him to pull me, hoping that whatever he ahd planned wouldn't cause more problems.

Though, knowing Regina, all hell would probably break lose before the day was up.

* * *

I walked past the guards, waving my hand when the burliest one moved to stop me. He froze and purple, shimmering light covered him from the waist down, causing the other guards to jerk away from my outsretched hand.

"I have been given permission and have sworn an oat of blood and magic to not release him." I glared darkly at the three men and when they nodded frantically, I smiled sweetly at them and turned away towards the stairs, absentmindedly flicking my hand behind my shoulder to cancel the spell.

I made my way down the stiars and into the dimply lit corridor at the bottom, towards the makeshift cage that held Rumple.

"Rumple." He reacted to my soft call, his shadowed form nearly dancing until he was right at the front of the cage, gripping the bars.

"Hello, dearie!" He pressed his face right up to the bars, his expression mildly disturbing for a trapped man. I pushed that down and continued until I was a mere foot from the bars. He continued to grin at me, his golden eyes glinting madly in the dim torchlight. "What can I do for my lovely assistant?"

I quirked a brow at his question and leaned closer to the bars.

"I believe you know why, Rumple." He simply smirked at me and began to twiddle his thumbs, his expression still frightfully gleeful.

"Of course!" He lowered his vocie. "But I'm not in the mood to play guessing games right now, dearie." I smirked sardonically at him, thoguh he simply giggled at the sight of my disapproval. "Now, now, don't look at me like that, Lillith." He wagged his finger at me in mock disapproval, making me sigh and cross my arms.

"Regina has gone to see Maleficent." He nodded, unsurprised. "She's going to get _it_, isnt' she."

He nodded again, his voice low and grave.

"Yes, she is." I resisted the urge to slam my face into my palm at his nonchalant answer and instead fixed a dark glare on the mad imp before me.

"Why the bloody hell did you give Regina that stupid curse in the first place?" I demanded, furious with my mentor for the first time in years. "How could even _you_, create something that horrible?"

He interlocked his fingers, resting his forehead against the bars and stared hard at me, his gaze unblinking as I returned the favor.

"You, Lillith, should know better than to question my actions." His hand snapped out and caught the back of my neck, yanking my face towards him as he all but snarled at me, somehow still managing to sound giddy. "Don't. Start. Now."

I wrenched myself from his grip and stared at him, wary of his hidden agenda for the first time. Being away for almost three decades had apprently done more damage to my relationship with my mentor than I though, if he wasn't sharing with me the details fo why the gave the Dark Curse to Regina.

"Then perhaps I should stay here until your reasons come to light."

* * *

I glanced at Henry when he sat down in the booth, sharing an amused glance with Ruby as she made the hot choclate and added cinnamon, a weird quirk of Henry's that wasn't that bad, actually. I stifled a snicker when Ruby said Emma had an admirer and had to cover my mouth at the sight of Henry's face.

Emma, for some odd reason, decided that Graham was the one and after a few minutes of conversation, Graham finally stopped Emma's theory, giving Henry the opportunity to reveal himself.

"I did." The nonplussed blond stared at the ten year old, her eyes wide as he smiled brightly to her. I stood as well, smirking quietly. "I like cinnamon too."

Emma raised an eyebrow after darting a quick glance down at the beverage before her eyes darted back to a smug Henry.

"Don't you have school."

"Duh. I'm ten." Henry situated his backpack straps, stating the obvious before he smiled up at his birth mother. "Walk me."

Emma glanced at me, her eyebrow raising dangerously close to her hairline and she gestured at me.

"Uh, isn't that her job?" I shrugged lightly, fixing the uncomfortable blond with an amused stare and quickly decided to not help her out in this situation.

"You can tag along." Henry headed to the door, pulling Emma along while I smiled and walked after them, sending Graham a dark glare when I caught sight of the look on his face. I sighed inwardly,. knowing I would catch hell from Regina for letting Henry near Emma but, he was a hard kid to deny.

We made it across the street before Emma cracked, clearly bursting with questions for the kid between us.

"So, what's the deal with you and your mom?" Henry shook his head at her question, easily deflecting.

"It's not about us, it's about her curse." He smiled up at Emma while I looked fondly towards the pawn shop, weighing the amount of pain Regina would cause me if I ditched the mother/son pair and went to work. "We have to break it." Henry contineud, much to Emma's clear exasperation. "Luckily, I have a plan. Step one: Identification." He smiled up at her, his entire body nearly vibrating with excitement. "I call it Operation: Cobra."

"Cobra?" Emma parroted, her face twisting up in bemusement. "That has nothing to do with fairy tales." She shot me a confused glance and I rolled my eyes.

"He reads to many comic books." I explained with an absentminded wave of my hand, earning myself a sulky look from Henry before he turned back to Emma to explain more of his so-called 'plan'.

"Exactly. It's a code name to throw the Queen off the trail." I shared a look with Emma as she attempted to catch up to what Henry was saying.

"So, everyone here is a fairytale character-they just don't know it?" She clarified, staring down at Henry expectently.

"That's the curse. Time's been froxen until you got here." She shot me a look, clearly begging for my help but I shrugged again.

"He's got a point," I pointed at the now moving clock. "The clock hasn't moved for as long as anyone can remember." Emma sighed and pulled an apple out of her pocket, to Henry's clear alarm.

"Hey! Where'd you get that?!" Emma stopped just as she was about to take a bite and pulled the red fruit form her mouth, her eyes wide.

"Your mom?" Henry reacted, taking the apple from the stunned woman.

"Don't eat that." Chucking the apple behind us, he continued to walk down the street and I glanced at Emma when she finally snapped out of her surprise and followed us, her wide eyes glancign back at the apple.

"O-okay. Uh, all right." She caught up to us, bringing Henry's attention back to her. "What about their pasts?"

"They don't know, it's a haze to them." He gestured around and even pointed to me. "Ask anyone anything and you'll see." Emma followed his movements and glanced at me.

"Do you?" I shook my head, mindful of their gazes.

"I honestly don't remember anything but Storybrooke." Emma nodded haltingly, her movements jerky when she glanced down back at Henry.

"So, for decades, people have been walking around here, not aging, with screwed-up memories, stuck in a cursed town that keeps them oblivious." I smirked when Henry nodded, his expression lighting up and fought back the urde to groan when he failed to catch the rethorical question Emma posed.

"I knew you'd get it!" He cheered. "That's why we need you, you're the only one who can stop the curse."

"Becuase I'm the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming?"

"Yes!" Henry chirped, his tiny face excited. "And right now, we have the advantage." Henry reached into his backpack and, to my surprise, pulled out the last few pages of his storybook. He handed them off to a bemused Emma. "My mom doesn't know that I took out the end, the part with you in it."

I leaned closer to Emma and looked at the page, unsurprised to see Snow White cradling a baby in his arms. I darted a glance at Emma's face and held in a smirk at the look on it. The baby's blanket clearly had the name 'Emma' embroidered on it and I remembered making that blanket and presenting it to a delighted Snow.

"See," Henry started, looking from the pages to his birth mother. "Your mom is Snow White."

Emma shook her head, her face twisted up in exasperation.

"Oh, kid."

At the sight of her disbelief, Henry quickly spoke, his words filled with conviction. I stayed silent, aware that I probably wouldn't help anyone if I made any of the sarcastic comments welling in my throat.

"I know the hero never believes at first, if they did it wouldn't be a very good story." I glanced between them and rolled my eyes after a quick glance at the time, I prodded Henry and Emma along, not wanting Regina to hear that Henry had been late to school on my watch. "If you need proof, take them." Henry pushed the papers back into Emma's hands. "But, whatever you do, don't let her see the papers. They're dangerous." He warned and Emma shot me a desperate look, though I simply shrugged in response.

We arrived at the school just as the bell rang and I nudged Henry, smirking at the look he sent me. He turned back to Emma, his voice cheerful.

"I gotta go. But, I'll find you later and we can get started." He started towards the school, turning around with a huge grin on his features. "I knew you'd believe me!"

"I never said I did!" Emma called back but Henry's grin simply widened.

"Why else would you be here?" He called, waving goodbye to me before he ran towards the school, passing Mary Margaret on his way, sending her a brilliant smile.

The surprised teacher approached us, sending me a small smile that I returned. I hadn't been too well liked because I was Gold's assistant, so naturally, I wasn't exactly trusted by most of the town. But, ever since I'd become Henry's proverbial shadow, most of the town had warmed up to me.

She smiled brightly at Emma and, after darting another surprised look at Henry, turned back to us.

"It's good to see his smile back." She said, earning a confused look from Emma.

"I didn't do anything." Mary Margaret shook her head, smile still in place.

"You stayed." Her happy expression suddenly became solemn. "So, does the Mayor know you're here?"

I snorted, glancing up at an irritated Emma with a smirk.

"Oh, she knows." Emma said, her voice flat. "What's her deal? She's not a great people person, how'd she get elected?"

Unsurprisingly, Mary Margaret's face took on a puzzled and almost cloudy expression, similar to how everyone else looked whenever they were asked questions about the past. The other woman blinked and lightly shook her head before answering, her eyes taking on a far away look.

"She's been mayor as long as I can remember, no one's ever been brave enough run against her. She inspires quite a bit of...well, fear." She shrugged again, focusing back on Emma and me. "I'm afraid I only made that worse by giving Henry that book. Now he thinks she's the Evil Queen."

"And that I'm some sorceress named the Dark Lillith." I spoke up, earning myself an amused look from both women. "Well, I have to hear about it enough from Henry." I smirked in response to Emma's next question.

"Who does he think you are?"

Mary Margret looked down bashfully, her pale face filled with fondness.

"Oh...it's silly."

"I just got five minutes of silly." Emma stated in as serious of a voice as she was clearly capable of. "Lay it on me."

Mary Margaret smiled again, still looking as bashful as the dwarf she'd been best friends with back in the Enchanted Forest.

"Snow White." She admitted, oblivious to the look of shock that crossed Emma's features. She looked up to the other woman with a small smile. "Who does he think you are?"

Wide-eyed, Emma shook her head, nearly tripping over her words.

"I'm not in the book." I raised an eyebrow but said nothing, starting at her next words. "Can I ask you a favor?" Mary Margaret nodded, always the helpful one. "Regina mentioned the kid's in therapy. Do you know where I can find the doctor?"

Mary Margaret nodded but, the warning bell for the school rang and I spoke up, not wanting to make her late for her job.

"I can take her, Mrs. Blanchard." The dark haired woman nodded at me gratefully and took off for the school, sending a short wave over her shoulder. I glanced at Emma and managed a small smile. "Come on, I don't have to be at the shop yet."

I turned from the school, heading back to the main street, Emma at my heels.

"What shop do you work at?"

I held in a smirk at her question and, peeked at her from the corner of my eyes when I answered.

"I work at the pawn shop, for Mr. Gold."

After dropping Emma off at the front of the building that housed Archie's office, I rushed across the street, passing Leroy on the way and gave the burly man a sarcastic wave, earning a sneer from him.

I held in a chuckle, oddly grateful that the sarcastic relationship I'd had with the dwarf in the Enchanted Forest hadn't dimmed in this new land. I entered the shop, my boots echoing on the wooden floors as I made my way to the back room.

I peeked my head around the door frame and went fully into the room when I caught sight of Gold going through one of the cupboards. I leaned against the frame and raised an eyebrow, clearing my throat loudly.

He didn't even react, continuing to take and move things from the wooden shelves.

"You're late, dearie." I rolled my eyes and pushed off the wall, stalking forward and taking a heavy looking vase from his hands.

"And _you_ shouldn't be lifting such heavy things." He turned to me, his lips twitching lightly.

"When did you get this snarky, dearie?" I simply smiled at him before I placed the vase on the counter and turned around back to him with a soft smile.

"Around the same time you hired me." I teased back, and we both knew I wasn't talking about being hired at the pawn shop, as I'd never technically been hired. I'd woken up twenty-eight years ago and already worked for Gold. I was talking about when I'd been eight years old and Rumpelstiltskin had taken me on as his apprentice. "If I'm anything, I learned it from you, boss."

He simply tsked softly, wagging a finger at me, pretending to chastise me.

"You are far too insolent for your own good."

I simply sent him a cheeky smile before I removed my coat and hung it up, going to his side and staring at the mess in front of me.

"Good lord, what did you do to this poor cabinet?" I asked in mock outrage, though I was a little peeved because I'd organized this very cabinet just yesterday. I turned a baleful eye on him before I rolled my eyes at his sheepish expression.

"I needed to find something."

"And what, pray tell, did you need to find so badly?" He raised his hand and I gasped loudly, covering my mouth with my hand at the sight of the chain dangling from his hand. With shaky hands, I accepted the necklace from Gold and stared at it with wide eyes.

"Where...where did you...how..." I stared up at him, feeling my eyes burn with tears at the sight of his sad features.

"I knew how important it was to you and, I felt that I had to find it." He smiled softly at me, placing his hand overtop of my own. "It was my fault you lost it, in the first place, after all."

He removed his hand and I stared at the pendant, swallowing past the lump that had grown in my throat. I allowed him to take it and palce it around my neck, nearly sobbing at the relief at the familiar weight around my neck.

"Thank you, Mr. Gold."

* * *

I walked towards the school and, before I could react, Henry was running at me, his dark eyes wide in horror.

"Lily!" He called to me, Mary Margaret at his heels and, before I could move, Henry barreled into me, knocking the breath out of me.

"Henry!" I wheezed out, nearly doubling over and was extremely grateful when Mary Margaret rushed over, supporting me with gentle hands. "Next time, please warn me before you tackle me." I gasped out, still out of breath even as Mary Margaret rubbed my back.

After several moments of me wheezing for breath and, seeing that Henry was nearly bouncing with anticipation.

"Are you okay, Lily?" I nodded at the other woman before I glanced at the boy next to me with a dirty glare.

"I'm fine, Mrs. Blanchard." I straightened up and turned my attention back to Henry, who was still practically jumping up and down. "So, why did you decide to run at me like a bull?"

"Emma's in prison!" I smacked myself in the face with an annoyed groan. "She's been accused of stealing records from Archie-"

"Don't tell me, Regina?"

Henry nodded his dark head, his eyes still as wide as they could be.

"She pulled me out of class and told me!" A quick glance at his teacher's nod gave me the answer I needed and I sighed darkly, my good mood from earlier evaporating as I took Henry's hand and pulled him with me.

"I'm assuming we're headed to the Sheriff's Office?"

Henry's responding smile caused me to give him a small smile in return and I shared another look with Mary Margaret, who simply smiled weakly at me before we set off towards the center of town.

We made it there just as Emma was getting her mug shots and, never the subtle one, Henry called out to Graham.

"Hey!" Our bearded Sheriff turned around, his eyes wide at the sight of the mayor's son.

"Henry! Henry, what are you doing here?" He asked, pulling away from the camera and Emma, who was looking at the three of us in shock.

"Regina told him what happened." Mary Margaret offered.

"Of course she did." Emma rolled her eyes before turning her attention to Henry. "Henry, I don't know what she said-"

"You're a genius!"

"What?" Emma and I asked, our matching expressions of confusion evident.

"I know what you were up to." Henry continued. "You were gathering intel." He gave Emma a pointed look, his expression serious. "For Operation: Cobra?"

Graham started looking between Emma and Henry, his expression confused.

"I'm sorry, I'm a bit lost."

Henry, to my delight and pride, smirked up at the sheriff.

"It's need to know, Sheriff. And all you need to know, is that Mrs. Blanchard's gonna bail her out."

Emma started and stared at the dark-haired woman, her eyes wide.

"You are? Why?"

Clearly unnerved by the attention she had just gathered, Mary Margaret blinked and looked around.

"I, uh...trust you." She offered, clearly uncomfortable with having the attention of everyone in the room.

Emma nodded before turning to Graham and outstretching her cuffed hands.

"Well, if you can un-cuff me, I have something to do."

* * *

I glanced around the room before looking at Rumple, who smirked at me before he leaned against the bars and called out, his voice trilling.

"It's just us dearie!" His voice turned sing-song. "You can show yourself."

I watched dispassionately as one of the many mice on the floor became surrounded by black smoke, turning slowly into Regina. She cracked her neck once and sighed before turning to us.

"That curse you gave me...it's not working."

Rumple smirked and tilted his head, clearly ready to tease the Queen as much as possible.

"Oh, so worried. So, so worried." He lowered his voice. "Like Snow and her lovely, new husband."

His words had their desired affect and, Regina's face became like stone.

"What?" She asked flatly and Rumple's smile brightened, if that was possible.

"They paid me a visit as well. They were very anxious about you and the curse."

At my mentor's words, Regina moved closer to the cage, shooting me a dirty look as she did so, and glared at my mentor.

"What'd you tell them?"

"The truth!" He trilled, looking far too happy considering he was discussing the curst to end all curses. "That nothing can stop the darkness...except of course, their unborn child." Regina's face became even harsher and I smirked lightly at her, drawing her attention myself.

"What is it,_ Lillith_?" She hissed, clearly not wanting to even speak directly to me.

"Well, _Regina._" I allowed my smirk to become wider. "Any curse, no matter how powerful, can always be broken. Their child is the key."

"Of course, the curse has to be enacted first." Rumple mocked, sharing an amused look with me before he turned his golden eyes back to Regina.

"Tell me what I did wrong." She commanded, her voice low and, judging by the look on his face, this was exactly what Rumple had been waiting for.

"For that, there's a price." He giggled and I sighed, resisting the urge roll my eyes.

"What do you want?" Regina asked, clearly as unsurprised by his words as I was.

"Simple. In this new world, I want comfort. I want a good life. For me," he sent me a somewhat serious glance and I blinked in response. "And for Lillith here." His eyes sharpened and he stared hard at Regina. "You will not separate my assistant from me."

"Fine. She will remain your assistant. You'll have an estate, be rich-"

"I wasn't finished!" He snapped, gripping the bars tighter. "There's more."

Regina sneered at him, though her expression was resigned.

"There always is with you." At her words, I chuckled softly, earning myself another glare from the Queen. "Something funny, Lillith?"

"Not at all, M'lady." I nodded my head at her, smirking lightly at the fury etched clearly on her face.

Rumple pulled her attention back, though it was hard to ignore the high-pitched trill he called a laugh, especially when he giggled his words.

"In this new land, should I ever come to you for any reason, you must heed my every request." I didn't need to look at her to know that I had the same incredulous expression on my face that Regina had on hers. "You must do whatever I say! So long as I say...please!"

"You do realize that should I succeed, you won't remember any of this?" She reminded him, only earning herself a slightly mad smile from the caged imp.

"Oh, well then..." he tilted his head, his eyes glinting in the torch light. "Where's the harm?"

"Deal." Regina answered, a smirk growing on her painted lips, even as Rumple backed away from the bars and snorted, clearly amused with the woman in front of him. I glanced at him, feeling the smugness radiating off his form but shrugged it off, aware that if it was important, I'd find out eventually.

"What must I do to enact this curse?"

"You need to sacrifice a heart." He gestured to his chest with one hand, gripping the bars of the cage with the other.

"I sacrificed the heart of my prized steed."

Even I was unprepared for Rumple's violent reaction to Regina's response. He lunged at the bars with a grunt, pulling himself up them so his face hovered over Regina's and grabbed her face, forcing her to look at him.

"A horse?" He hissed out, clearly incensed. "This is the curse to end all curses and you think a _horse_ is gonna do? Great power, requires great sacrifice." Her eyes narrowed as he continued. "The heart must come from something far more precious."

Instead of reacting to his manhandling of her person, Regina simply stared at him, her voice surprisingly steady.

"Tell me what will suffice."

"The heart of the thing you love most." He cooed, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Surprised, I glanced from Rumple to Regina, who's face filled with hate as she grabbed the hand clutching her face, her white-knuckled grip shaking.

"What I love most died because of Snow White." She hissed out, hate and malice dripping off her words.

I rolled my eyes, uncaring if she saw. I'd heard that story enough to know that what Snow White had done hadn't contained any malicious intent and she'd only been a child, what the hell would she have known about the atrocities Cora was capable of? Snow White had done what she thought was right, she thought she was helping. She hadn't purposefully had Daniel killed, in fact, she hadn't even known about what had happened until years later.

My attention was jerked back to the two magic users in front of me when Rumple cooed softly at Regina, his mocking voice gently soothing her.

"Ooh, is there no one else you twuly love?" Regina's eyes widened with realization and I felt the shock filling her before cold, icy dread followed it. "This curse isn't gonna be easy. Vengeance never is, dearie."

I swallowed thickly when Rumple's eyes landed on me, his knowing, golden gaze spearing me in place and I held back a scream when Regina's attention turned to me.

"You have to ask yourself, Regina. One simple question." I hissed out quietly, earning myself a confused look from the Queen in front of me. She clearly had no idea of my sordid past. "How far are you willing to go for your vengeance?"

After a moments hesitation, Regina leaned forward, hissing softly at Rumple, though her eyes remained on me.

"As far as it takes."

"Then stop wasting everyone's time and just do it." Rumple spat out, clearly tired of this little 'game'. "You know what you love."

I picked up where he left off, making sure that my eyes were red and my voice was filled with malice when I spat out the words.

"Now go kill it."

* * *

I smiled at Henry as we climbed the stairs to Regina's office, keeping my arm around his shoulders to try and offer some comfort. He turned to me, his eyes big and pleading.

"Can't you just take me back to Granny's and we can skip the torture session?" I rolled my eyes at his pleading tone, aware that giving into him once meant it would become a regular thing.

"Henry, spending time with your mother isn't a torture session." I scolded, continuing before I could stop myself. "Be grateful you have a mother..." I broke off, wide-eyed and clamped my mouth shut. Henry stared up at me, his eyes wide with shock before he looked away, muttering apologies softly.

"Sorry, sis..."

"It's fine, Henry." I hugged him closer to me, kissing the top of his head and, as we reached Regina's office, we both came to a complete stop at the sight of the open door and Emma's voice coming from the room.

"The poor kid can't tell fantasy from reality and it's crazy." Before I could stop him, Henry spoke up, his voice filled with pain and completely heartbroken.

"You think I'm crazy?" Emma whirled around on the couch, her eyes wide at the sight of her son in the doorway. I glanced behind her to meet Regina's smug smirk and, with an inward sigh of disgust, I sent Emma a glare.

Henry went from my side, nearly running down the stairs, ignoring Emma's call of his name. I sent both of the women a heated glare before I took off after him, aware that this was far more detrimental than Emma probably thought.

"Henry!" I yelled, rushing down the stairs before I gave up and leapt over the bannister, landing in front of him as he reached the bottom of the stairs. I caught him by the shoulders and, ignoring his half-hearted struggles, I pulled him into my arms and led him out of the building.

We stalked through the streets and I led us to his castle, allowing him to climb it and sit on the platform before I joined him, worried at the depressed expression on his face and his now sullen demeanor.

"Henry, look at me." I commanded softly, cupping his chin when he did so.

"She thinks I'm crazy, Lily." My chest throbbed at the pain in his voice and I simply pulled him into my arms again, holding him as a painful shudder went through his little body. "_Crazy_."

I pushed him away far enough so I could see hi face and I gripped his chin again, pulling his face up to look at mine.

"Henry, you're not crazy.' I said, my tone fierce as he looked up at me with those sad, brown eyes. "And anyone who says so is a bloody idiot and will have to deal with _me_."

Magic I may not have, but I was still fully able to take care of myself, something Henry knew all too well. At the sight of his eyes welling up with tears and the tears spilling over, I pulled him back into my embrace and hugged him tightly, aware that I couldn't give him the comfort he truly needed and wanted.

The comfort of a mother.

* * *

I sat silently in Archie's office next to Henry, who was currently playing with Archie's customary umbrella and leaning on me. The bespectacled shrink had been trying, unsuccessfully, for over an hour to try and draw Henry out of the depressed slump he was in. It was rare that I was involved in these session but, after seeing the state Henry was in, Archie had all but begged me to stay as I had more success with Henry than even the resident shrink.

"Are you sure you don't wanna talk about it?" Archie tried again, for what seemed like the hundredth time and I held in the urge to huff in irritation. Finally seeing that approach wasn't going to get any results, Archie tried another tactic. "You know, that umbrella is kind of my good luck charm. Is that why you think I'm Jiminy Cricket?"

Henry messed with the umbrella handle for a few minutes before he sighed deeply.

"I don't think you're anyone." He set the umbrella on the coffee table and I shared a disturbed look with Archie, though my attention was quickly diverted by the door behind me slamming open.

I blinked at the sight of Emma and Archie stood, his eyes wide behind his glasses.

"Ms. Swan! Look, I can explain...the mayor forced me-" He stuttered, his voice filled with guilt.

"I know. Don't worry about it. I get it." Emma brushed him aside, focusing her attention on her silent son. "Henry, I'm sorry."

"I don't wanna talk to you." He turned his head away from her, leaning deeply into the couch as if he wanted to sick into it. Archie chose that moment to speak up, his voice hesitant.

"Ms. Swan, if she knew you were here-"

"To hell with her!" Emma spat out and I raised an eyebrow but didn't remark, content to remain silent until Henry needed me. Emma sat down on the coffee table, facing Henry. "Henry, there is one simply reason I'm here-you. I wanted to get to know you."

I didn't have to have to be an empathy to practically feel the guilt and desperation coming off Emma and I glanced at Henry, unsurprised to see that he still refused to look at the blond in front of him.

"You think I'm crazy."

"No-I think the curse if crazy and it is." She sighed deeply. "But, that doesn't mean it isn't true." I stared at her, bemused as to why she decided now of all times to pretend that she believed Henry. If she was pretending, then when Henry found out about it, and he would, it would be even worse for her than it was now. "It is a lot to ask anyone to believe in-"

"I believe in him." I stated quietly, not taking my eyes off her face and she turned to face me, meeting my eyes for several seconds before she turned her attention back to her son.

"There are a lot of crazy things in this world. So, what do I know? Maybe it is true."

"But you told my mom-"

"What she needed to hear." Emma finished. "What I do know, is that if the curse is real, the only way to break it is by tricking the Evil Queen...into thinking we are non-believers." I stared at her in puzzled shock, unsure if she was being honest or was just trying to get into Henry's good graces again. Years of being deprived of my gift of empathy had left me unable to judge people that were good liars and, Emma had proved she was a good liar already.

I glanced back at Archie, who had remained behind the couch, clearly hesitant to get in the way of this little heart-to-heart session going on in front of us. Emma kept her attention on Henry, who was slowly bringing his head towards her.

"'Cause, that way, she's not onto us. Isn't that what Operation:Cobra is all about?" Emma glanced at Archie, who smiled at her before she turned her attention back to Henry, who was now looking at her fully and slowly leaning off me. "To throw her off the trail?" Henry smiled at that and fully sat up, his face filling with excitement.

"Brilliant!" I couldn't' hold back a small smile and leaned against the edge of the couch, glancing up at Archie when he sat next to me.

"I read the pages." Emma pulled the torn pages out of her coat. "And, Henry, you're right. They are dangerous. There is only one way to make sure that she never sees them." Emma, to my surprise, stood and walked to the fire, throwing each of the pages into the flames. "Now we have the advantage."

Henry nearly shot up from the couch and flung his arms around her waist, Emma wrapping her own around his shoulders. With a sigh, the blond rested her cheek against his head, hugging him tightly to her.

"I knew you were here to help me." He muttered, his voice filled with so much quiet joy that it made my smile widen.

"That's right kid, I am." Emma pulled back, holding Henry at arms length. "And nothing, not even a curse, is gonna stop that."

With a large grin, Henry hugged her again and I glanced up at Archie, sharing a grin with him before I looked back at mother and son, feeling much better about the fate of this town any everyone in it.

As we left Archie's office, I allowed Henry to hold my hand while Emma kept her arm around his shoulders. I glanced around and, when I met the smirking face of my mentor, I smirked back and nodded, letting him know that everything was in place.

He nodded back before heading the opposite direction, towards Regina's. I held back a chuckle, realizing that Regina was about to be forced to fulfill another part of her deal with Rumple. I looked back at Henry when he squeezed my hand and I gripped his back, allowing myself to be led towards the diner.

Everything was falling into place.

* * *

**As always, please review!**


	3. Snow Falls

**_Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot and any unrecognizable characters._**

**_Well, I hope you like this chapter and thank you to the reviews from the last one!_**

* * *

_My eyes shot open with a gasp and, taking in my surroundings with wide eyes, I quickly realized I wasn't in my bedroom at Granny's. _

_I was in a jungle. A very familiar jungle._

_Breathing hard, I looked around wildly sitting up and pulling myself off the ground with jerky, tense movements. I stepped back a few steps and, as a soft chattering sound came from around me, my breathing and heartbeat accelerated._

_I moved back, away from the sound and hit a tree, still staring around wildly, panting harshly. At the sound of a stick cracking, I whirled around and smothered a shriek with my hand at the sight of the Shadow in front of me._

_Shaking, I stepped away from it and swallowed thickly when it chuckled darkly._

_"You still aren't used to coming here every night, are you?" It tilted its head, eyes glowing in the dim light and I shivered when it came closer. "Even though you have your memories." I could hear the smirk in its voice, knowing that if it had a mouth, it would be mocking me with the expression. "_He_ won't be pleased."_

_"Why do you torture me like this? It's always the same, you invade my dreams to torment me with _him_." I hissed out, trying to control the trembling of my voice. If this was the real world and I was in Neverland, I'd have my magic and I wouldn't exactly be scared of the Shadow but, I had no control over what happened in this dream. _

_"Why can't you leave me alone!" I yelled, freezing when a voice came from behind me, the low, husky tone so familiar._

_"Leave us." The voice commanded and the Shadow obediently took flight, leaving me alone with _him_._

_Suddenly, I really wanted the Shadow to come back._

_I remained where I was, stiffening when hands gently touched my shoulder, though I couldn't hold back a shiver when cool lips gently brushed the side of my neck. With a dark chuckle, the hands on my shoulders spun me around and I looked up to meet the bright green eyes of the boy I'd left behind._

_"I told you I'd find you, Lily."_

* * *

I shot up from my bed, a scream dying in my throat as I took in my darkened surroundings with wild eyes.

Panting and gasping, I brought my knees up to my chest and rested my forehead against my knees. After a few minutes, my heartbeat and breathing began to slow and I fell back against my pillows, staring at the ceiling and keeping my gaze there even when footsteps came pounding down the hall and my door was flung open, causing the dim, barely there light from the hallway to spill in.

"Really, Lils." A groggy Ruby asked, failing to smother a yawn with her hand before she stepped into the room and motioned with her hands at me. "Alright, scoot over."

I obliged her demands and, minutes later, we were both curled in the bed, facing each other.

"You gonna tell me what that was all about?"

I shrugged, playing with the edges of the blanket, earning a groan from the older girl.

"Bad dreams." I muttered, not going into more detail than that, though I was dying to confide the subject of my dreams, especially because he had finally appeared in them, after several years of absence.

Muttering darkly under her breath, Ruby turned away from me with a soft 'goodnight' and was snoring away within minutes.

I laid awake for hours, turning my necklace over in my hands and wondering of it was the cause of his reappearance in my dreams. Before I'd had my memories, he'd appeared in them almost every night but, for the last few years, only the Shadow had appeared and half the time, even it wasn't in my dreams. In those reams, I was left by myself in the once familiar jungle, running and searching for something, anything.

I blinked when my alarm went off, slamming a hand down on the clock before it could wake Ruby. I sighed and pulled myself out of the bed and stalked to my bathroom, catching a glance of myself in the mirror before I jumped into the waiting shower.

Bloodshot blue eyes and dark shadows under them was becoming quite common for me and I held back a groan, realizing that I had been volunteered by Henry to help his class on their trip to the hospital today.

I had to wonder what would happen if I didn't go and get Henry this morning.

With a snort, I jumped into the shower, knowing that if I was even a minute late, Regina would kill me.

* * *

"Lily, are you okay?" I opened my tired eyes and nodded at a concerned Mary Margaret, glancing around the ward, looking for Henry. I caught sight of him in a room off from the rest of the ward, with a single man and I swallowed, holding back a rush of pity when I realized that Henry was currently staring at Charming.

I'd forgotten he was a coma patient at the hospital, and a John Doe on top of that. Mary Margaret followed my gaze and took off, opening the door just as Henry reached for Charming's face.

"Henry, we could really use your help with the decorations." I got up, walking towards them just when Henry responded, his voice innocent and sad.

"Is Mr. Doe gonna be okay, Ms. Blanchard?" I smiled softly at his innocence, grateful that he'd managed to hold onto his far longer than I had.

"His name's not John Doe, honey." His teacher corrected, her eyes sad. "That's just what they call people who they don't know who they are."

"Do you know who he is?" Henry questioned again, his voice still innocent and I narrowed my eyes, stifling a yawn.

"No, I just bring him flowers on my rounds." Mary Margaret soothed, looking sadly at the still man on the bed.

"What's wrong with him?" Henry asked, clearly drawing his own conclusion as to who this man was.

"I don't know. He's been like this as long as I've been voluntering."

"Does he have any family or friends?"

"No one's claimed him." She shrugged, keeping her eyes on the man's face.

"So...he's all alone." Henry ventured and she nodded, her face a mask of sadness.

"Yeah. It's quite sad."

"You sure you don't know him?" Henry pushed, clearly not letting this go.

"Of course I'm sure." Mary Margaret chuckled lightly before she reached forward for her student. "Come on, you shouldn't be in here."

Henry obediently walked out of the room and I nudged him towards his classmates, unsurprised that when I looked behind me, Mary Margaret was staring at the man in the bed, her brow furrowed.

I sighed inwardly as cold fury once again welled inside me towards both Regina and Gold for the predicament we were all in.

* * *

Hours later, instead of taking Henry home and sleeping for a few hours on their couch, I was currently leaning against the inside of the wall to Henry's castle, while he and Emma sat on the top of the wall, talking.

"I found your father, Prince Charming." Henry told Emma, the book open on his lap to, most likely, a picture of Charming.

"Henry..." Emma started, voice tired and she glanced down at me, though I was in sleep-deprived haze and did nothing more that give her a look in response.

"He's in the hospital, in a coma." He continued, ignoring her and tapped hard on the page. "See the scar? He has one too."

I smirked at that, remembering Snow's tale of exactly how that scar came to be and the flustered look on Charming's face when I first teased him about it.

"So?" Emma asked. "Lot's of people have scars."

"In the same place?" Henry asked skeptically. "Don't you see what this means? The curse is keeping them apart with the coma, and now they're stuck without each other. We have to tell Ms. Blanchard."

"Tell her what?" I asked, desperately trying to stop my eyes from staying shut. Henry nudged me with his foot and I turned to glare up at him.

"We have to tell her we found her Prince Charming."

"Okay, kid." Emma began as I snorted, twisting around so I wasn't leaning against the wood anymore and was looking up at them. "Telling someone their..." She stopped, clearly struggling for the right word. "Soulmate, is in a coma is probably not helpful." Her expression was pained as she continued. "Not having a happy ending is painful enough but...giving someone unrealistic hope is far worse."

"But what if I'm right?" Henry argued. "We know who they are, now they have to know."

"And, how do you intend to make that happen?" Emma asked, skeptic as ever.

"By remind him." Henry said, proudly displaying his storybook. "We have to get her to read their story to John Doe, then maybe he'll remember who he is."

Emma inhaled deeply and I looked at her in surprise when she agreed.

"Okay." Henry clearly shared my surprise as he repeated her answer, his face filling with excitement.

"Okay?"

"Yeah, we'll do it. But, we'll do it my way. Let me ask her." Henry nodded and I sighed, sinking back against the wood.

"I don't like the sound of that."

* * *

_I jerked awake, wide-eyed and looked around, biting my tongue to stop from screaming at the surroundings. Slowly, I righted myself and pulled my knees up to my chest, not wanting to deal with that damned Shadow tormenting me again._

_I already did it to myself every day._

_After several minutes of nothing happening, I slowly pulled myself onto my feet, looking around with wary eyes._

_"It's not here." I whirled around and froze at the sight of him leaning against the tree, his arms crossed over his chest. He pushed off the tree and I backed away, still convinced that this was a cruel trick of the Shadow._

_I grabbed at my head with my hands, still backing away from him._

_"This isn't real...wake up..." I muttered, repeating the words like a mantra. After several moments of nothing happening, I reigned in the sob building in my chest. "Stop tormenting me." I pleaded brokenly, falling to my knees._

_"Lily." I blinked when long arms encircled me and looked up to meet bright green eyes. He simply smiled down at me. "This is real."_

_I shook my head again, unwilling to believe and tried to push away from his grip._

_"This is a dream. It's not real." I looked up to meet his eyes. "You aren't really here."_

_He shook his head once._

_"Neverland is a place for children to visit in their dreams. And you, were once a very special inhabitant of this land." He cooed before leaning forward and pressing a soft kiss to my forehead._

_"Peter..." I whispered, gripping his face and tangling my fingers in his hair._

_He gently cradled me against his chest and tilted my chin up so I could meet his gaze._

_"Please come back to me, Lily."_

* * *

I nearly stumbled down the stairs, rubbing at my sore eyes and ran into Ruby, who steadied me before proceeding to smother me like a mother hen. After another sleepless night, I knew I was starting to look like the dead walking.

"You still aren't sleeping." She commented, pulling me back up the stairs to the bathroom and forced me to perch myself on the counter while she rummaged around in her make-up bag.

Wit ha triumphant 'ah-ha!' she attacked me with make-up and, after about five minutes of hell, she turned me to face the mirror and I had to smile at what she'd done. The dark circles underneath my eyes were barely noticeable and she'd lined my eyes with black liner, clearly trying to draw away from how bloodshot they were.

I hopped of the counter and hugged her, allowing her to plait my hair before I hugged her again and made my way down the stairs, Ruby at my heels as Granny would go ballistic if she knew Ruby had abandoned her post, even if it was to help me.

"Thanks, Rub." She nodded, sending me a wink before she went back to flirting with the man at the counter. I rolled my eyes and crossed the room, sitting next to Henry just as Emma came walking from the public restroom, in a pale lavender shirt that was clearly Regina's.

"Thanks for the shirt." She adjusted the sleeves and, at the sight of my amused expression, gave Henry an irritated look. "Hey, is this your mother's?"

"She'll never know." Henry promised, almost evilly and I sighed, nudging him playfully before I looked across the table at Emma.

"Where does she think you are anyway?" She looked at me. "With Lily?"

"Nope." I shrugged. "I don't usually watch him until after noon on the weekends."

"Playin' Whac-a-mole." Henry answered her, smug smirk in place and I rolled my eyes, knowing that Regina had, most likely, bought that excuse.

"And she bought that?" Emma dryly asked.

"She wants to believe it, so she does." Henry shrugged, still smirking.

"Oh, imagine that." Emma said, sending Henry a pointed look, that he ignored. I held in a chuckle when he pursed his lips at her and nodded, his attention going to the door when the bell jingled. "She's here!"

"Hey, don't get your hopes up." Emma warned as Mary Margaret joined us, sitting next to Emma. "We're just starting-"

"He woke up."

"What?" Emma asked flatly, staring at the black-haired woman with wide eyes.

"I knew it!" Henry cheered.

"I mean, he didn't _wake up_, wake up." Mary Margaret corrected. "But, he grabbed my hand."

I slumped in my seat, though Henry seemed overjoyed by that simple reaction.

"He's remembering!"

"What did the doctor say?" Emma asked, clearly trying to temper Henry's reaction.

"That I imagined it, but I'm not crazy." Mary Margaret shook her head, her voice firm. "I know it happened."

"We have to go back, you have to read to him again." Henry announced and to my shock, his teacher readily agreed with him.

"Let's go." I traded a bewildered glanced with Emma before I scooted out of the booth, allowing Henry to get out.

Mary Margaret followed him and Emma jumped up after her.

"Wait, wait, wait." Mary Margaret turned back to face her, clearly set in her decision.

"If I got through to him, if we made a connection-"

"You don't believe-"

"That he's Prince Charming?" Mary Margaret asked, shaking her head. "Of course not." Her face lit up, the expression hopeful. "Somehow, some way, I touched him."

With that, all four of us all but ran to the hospital. We rushed past the flustered nurse and when we reached the ward, Henry caught sight of the many doctors in the room the John Doe had been in and got excited all over again.

"You're right! He's waking up." I blinked when I realized that Graham was standing at the doors and, at the sound of Henry's voice, the Sheriff turned around and held out his hands.

"Henry, you should stay back!" I caught him, pulling him into my embrace as Mary Margaret questioned Graham, her words tense.

"What is it? Is it John Doe? Is he okay?" Graham grimaced at her questions and looked around at all of us.

"He's missing." The man admitted and, when I looked back into the room, one of the doctors moved, revealing Regina. The Mayor turned her head and caught sight of us all, her face twisting with annoyance.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Regina spat at Emma when she stalked out of the room. "And you," she looked down at Henry and grabbed his arm, yanking him from my arms. I glared at her, Emma following suit. "I thought you were at the arcade. Now you're lying to me?" She asked, clearly unsettled by Henry's actions.

"What happened to John Doe, did someone take him?" Mary Margaret asked, somewhat defusing the tension.

"We don't know yet, his IVs were ripped out but there's no sign for sure there was a struggle." Graham offered and Henry turned accusing eyes onto Regina.

"What did you do?"

"You think I had something to do with this?" Regina asked incredulously.

"It is curious that the Mayor is here." Emma commented, staring hard at the other woman.

"I'm here because I'm his emergency contact." Regina snapped at the blond.

"So you know him." Regina shook her head at Mary Margaret's words.

"I found him on the side of the road years ago, with no ID. I brought him here." Graham nodded at us and I rolled my eyes, aware that he was still Regina's dutiful lapdog.

"Mayor Mills saved his life."

Dr. Whale came from the room, standing next to Regina and Mary Margaret addressed him, still worried sick about John Doe.

"Will he be okay?"

"Okay?" The doctor echoed and I resisted the urge to smack him. "The man's been on feeding tubes for years, under constant supervision. He needs to get back here right away or, quite honestly, 'okay' might be a pipe dream."

I glared at him when Mary Margaret's face fell and turned to Emma, who clearly decided to take charge.

"Well, then let's quite yappin' and start lookin'." SHe turned to go, stopping and turning around when Regina spoke.

"That's what we're doing. Just keep out of this, dear." She ordered sweetly. "And, since I clearly can't keep you away from my son...I guess I'm just gonna have to keep my son away from you." She snapped, grabbing Henry's hand and pulling him with her. "Enjoy my shirt." She added when she passed Emma, who simply raised an eyebrow at her. "Because that's all you're going to get."

She turned her head to look at Graham, who was looking at the two women, a worried expression on his face.

"Sheriff. Find John Doe." Her voice softened and I sighed at the fake concern she put in her voice. "You heard Dr. Whale, time is precious."

With that, she stormed out of the ward, dragging a reluctant Henry with her. After several tense moments, Graham spoke, addressing Whale.

"Doctor, how long between your rounds since you last saw him?"

"Around twelve hours or so." I snorted, drawing attention to myself and I simply sneered at the doctor.

"That's so helpful, Doc." He bristled but, Graham intervened, shooting me a dirty look that I ignored.

"Then that's what we need to account for." With that, he headed out of the ward and, after shrugging at Emma, I followed behind Graham, Emma and Mary Margaret at my heels. We ended up in the security room, where Leroy and Walter were.

"You two were the only employees on the floor last night." Walter yawned deeply, smacking his lips, clearly unconcerned. "And you saw nothing?"

"Not a thing." Walter said and Graham looked over at Leroy, who was leaning on his broom. Emma spoke, glancing between the two men.

"Did anyone walk by?" She directed the question at Leroy, as Walter looked ready to fall over in his seat.

The burly man shrugged one, leaning more on his broom.

"I didn't see nothin'."

Graham turned to Mary Margaret, as the two other men were clearly no help whatsoever.

"Ms. Blanchard, was there anything unusual you saw during your trip with you class?"

She shook her head, looking at me.

"I don't think so, did you Lily?" I shook my head as well, giving Graham a shrug when I saw the expression on his face.

"We're looking at the wrong tape." Emma stated, suddenly and she moved forward towards the monitors, pointing at one of them. "This is the ward where Henry's class put up decorations." She seated herself in the chair next to Walter and pointed at the screen in front of her as the rest of us crowded behind her. "If this was really the tape from last night, we'd see the banner the kids hung."

"You fell asleep again." Leroy scoffed at his co-worker, who immediately bristled.

"You sellin' me out?"

"I ain't gettin' fired for this." Leroy shot back, glaring at Walter.

"At least I don't drink on the job."

"Gentleman!" Graham said, holding his hands up between them before their little fight could escalate further. I ignored them and moved closer to Emma, pushing Walter out of the way and ignored his annoyed grunt. "Enough, where's the real tape?"

I pushed several tapes out of the way until I found one marked yesterday's date and handed it off to Emma, who placed it in the VCR. The entire room was silent and we all watched the VCR whir, the screen filling with static before the picture popped up.

We watched as the John Doe opened the doors to his section of the wing and stumbled out the exit door. I smiled softly while Mary Margaret let out a relieved sigh.

"Oh, he walked out alone. He's okay."

"Four hours ago." Emma muttered, looking over her shoulder at Leroy. "Where does this door lead?"

"The woods."

* * *

I walked alongside Graham, leaving Emma and Mary Margaret to follow while I glared up at the Sheriff, earning myself an affronted look.

"What did I do?" I huffed and crossed my arms, looking away from him, earning a sigh from him. "Fine, don't tell me."

I rolled my eyes and followed him down the small slope, catching his anxiety when he rushed towards a spot at the end of the slope.

"What is it?" Mary Margaret followed Emma down the slope to where Graham was crouched down, touching the disturbed dirt.

"The trail runs out here." Graham admitted, earning a scoff from Emma.

"You sure? 'Cause, I thought tracking was one of your skills." She dryly teased, earning herself an irritated look from him.

"Just give me a second." He raised his hands, gesturing towards the woods. "This is my world, I got it." He stalked away from us and I rolled my eyes, looking around the area to see if he'd missed anything, as he hadn't gone tracking in a while.

"Right, sorry." Emma offered, clearly not all that sorry. The two women began to talk and I ignored the conversation, wishing once again that I had my magic but if I did, then we'd probably be home and I wouldn't need to look for Charming in the first place.

I whirled around when a branch snapped, followed by footsteps and I closed my eyes tightly, my dream rushing back to me, causing pain to ripple through my chest.

"Henry!" Mary Margaret gasped and I let out the breath I hadn't realized I was holding. I shook my head once and stalked forward to see Henry standing in front of his mother, carrying a flashlight that was larger than his head.

"Did you find him yet?" He asked, ignoring the look he was receiving from all three of us.

"No, not yet." Emma admitted, turning into 'mother-mode', as Henry had decided to call it. "You shouldn't be here."

"I can help. I know where he's going." I moved to stand next to him and placed an arm around him, resigning myself to catching more hell from Regina.

"And where is that?" Henry smiled up at his teacher, his expression gleeful.

"He's looking for you."

Hours later and, after much complaining from Henry, the five of us had been trudging through the almost pitch black forest.

"You're the one who woke him up, you're the last person he saw. He wants to find you." I looked from Mary Margaret's irritated face to Henry's hopeful one and sighed, sharing a look with Emma.

Clearly unable to take it, Mary Margaret stopped and turned to face Henry, her voice surprisingly calm.

"Henry, it's not about me it's just...I think he's lost and confused. He's been in a coma for a long time." She said, clearly trying to pacify Henry. Unsurprisingly, he wasn't having any of that and I groaned, looking towards where Graham had disappeared.

"But, he loves you. You need to stop chasing him and let _him_ find _you_." Emma finally turned around to address Henry.

"Kid, you need to go back home. Where's your mom? She's gonna kill me and then you," a grimace found its way onto her face and I smirked sardonically at her. "And then me again."

"And me too, since I'm here allowing him to cavort with you." I shot at Emma, who gave me a flat look before looking down at a smug Henry.

"She dropped me off at the house and then went right out." He supplied. "Lily is usually with me this late on Saturdays."

I shrugged at the look Emma sent me.

"Regina didn't have me follow so I assumed I wasn't needed tonight." Emma just shook her head.

"Well, we need to get you back immediately."

"No!" Henry nearly yelled, though his loud refusal was overshadowed when Graham called to us, his voice almost frantic.

"Guys?!" We all turned and went towards him, stopping dead when we all saw wat he was shining his flashlight on.

The medical bracelet was resting on a plant but, that wasn't what caused cold dread to settle in my stomach.

"Is that-" Emma spoke over Mary Margaret's shaky voice.

"Blood."

* * *

I glanced around, feeling Henry tense when a wolf howled in the distance and cursed silently. I knew that I probably should have taken him back to town before it got dark outside but, it was too late to do anything now.

The trail Graham followed led us to the small creek next to the old troll bridge and I stopped with Henry, looking around for a body.

"Where is he? Can you see him?" Clearly reaching the end of her rope, I had a feeling Mary Margaret was going to have a mini-breakdown at any time.

"The trail dies at the waterline." Graham said, turning around to check the area. He stopped when Mary Margaret suddenly began to yell.

"Oh my God! Oh my God, oh my God!" She ran into the stream and I gasped when I saw a body laying in it.

Graham began to almost yell into his radio while Emma rushed into the stream to help Mary Margaret. I pulled Henry into my embrace, hoping that he wasn't about to see his first dead body.

"I need an ambulance at the old Troll Bridge as soon as possible!" After yelling instructions, he rushed into the water to help Emma and Mary Margaret, though the latter was already taking charge of the situation.

"Careful!"

"Hang on, hang on! I got him, I got him." I watched, still holding onto Henry as Graham grabbed the legs, Emma and Mary Margaret each grabbing an arm.

"I'm falling, I'm falling!" Clearly freaking out, Mary Margaret nearly dropped him as they carried him onto the shore. "Hold one, we need to slow down. Slow down." She repeated and, as they set him on the shore, she cupped his face. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no." She repeated the word like a mantra while Emma stared at her like she was crazy.

"I found you, it's gonna be okay." Mary Margaret promised, keeping her eyes on his face even when Graham spoke.

"Help's coming."

"Is he okay?" At Henry's voice, Emma reacted, though I quickly pulled him into my embrace and turned him away from the body, ignoring Emma's attempts to take him from me.

"Henry, don't look, okay?" I whispered, soothing his hair and darting looks over my shoulder at the still body next to Mary Margaret. I turned back to the boy in my arms and tightened my grip. "Just, please don't look."

I held him as Mary Margaret whispered something to the unconscious man and suddenly began doing chest compressions, grunting with the effort as Graham and Emma watched helplessly.

Henry tried to turn in my grip but I pulled him back, shaking my head when he looked up at me with wide eyes.

"It's going to be fine, Henry." I soothed, my voice shaking as I realized that there was a very large possibility that it _wasn't_ going to be fine.

Mary Margaret was now doing mouth to mouth and nearly sobbing as she did so. After she seemed to give up, the man beneath her began to sputter, water flying from his mouth before he began to cough and wheeze.

Wide-eyed, Henry and I turned around as Mary Margaret stared down at the man, her eyes filled with wonder and her lips curling into a smile.

"You saved me." He whispered up at her, earning himself a wide smile as Mary Margaret exhaled shakily.

"She did it. She woke him up." Henry cheered, looking up at me with a wide smile that I returned. "She woke him up." He repeated, leaning against me.

"Yeah, kid. She did." Emma muttered, staring at the scene with wide-eyes.

"Thank you." Charming whispered, his voice hoarse. Mary Margaret simply shook her head.

"Who are you?" He blinked, a confused expression sliding onto his face at her question.

"I dont' know."

'It's okay." She whispered, pressing her cheek against his as sirens filled the air. "You're gonna be okay."

* * *

"Watch your backs, he's coming through!"

"Thanks guys, we got it from here." Whale said, pulling the gurney into the room and shut the door, blocking us from the room. I stood between Henry and Graham, staring into the room and blinked when an almost hysterical shout came from behind us.

I turned in time to jump out of the way as a pretty blond woman came running towards us, yelling at the top of her lungs.

"David! David, is that you?!"

She pushed her way into the room and was immediately pushed away from the bed by a doctor, though they didn't eject her from the room.

"Who is that?" Regina answered Mary Margaret's question, her voice smug.

"His wife." I blinked at that, looking from Mary Margaret's now devastated face to Regina's viciously smug one. I glanced down at Henry and sighed, resting my chin on his head.

I had a feeling I wasn't going to be sleeping for a while.

Henry and I sat down on the nearest chairs, Emma seating herself across from us while Regina and Mary Margaret remained where they were.

"His name is David Nolan and that's his wife Kathryn." Regina supplied, her voice dripping with sweetness. "And the joy on her face, well, it's put me in quite the forgiving mood." She chuckled, a smile adorning her red lips.

Emma sighed deeply, leaning back against her chair while Regina turned her attention to Henry and I.

"We'll talk about your insubordination later." She titled her head at Henry's confused look. "Do you know what insubordination means?"

His response was a shake of his head.

"It means you're grounded." I answered, my voice dry as I realized that if Henry was grounded, then I wasn't going to be doing much of anything for the next few weeks when I was with him. Henry slumped into his chair and I followed suit, glaring darkly at the Mayor, though my attention was drawn to the doors when Kathryn came out of them.

"Thank you." She addressed a stunned Mary Margaret. "Thank you, for fixing my David."

"Um, I don't...I don't understand. You didn't...you didn't know he was in a coma?" Mary Margaret asked in disbelief and Kathryn sighed, guilt clouding over her features.

"A few years ago, David and I were...not getting along." She admitted, crossing her arms. "It was my fault, I know that now. I was difficult and unsupportive. I told him if he didn't like things, he could leave. And he did and I didn't stop him." She blinked back tears, clearing her throat. "It was the worst mistake I ever made."

"You didn't go look for him?" Emma asked, not bothering to keep the disbelief and accusation out of her voice.

"I assumed he'd left town all this time." Kathryn smiled blankly. "Now I know why I never heard from him. Now, I get to do what I've wanted to do forever-say 'I'm sorry'." She looked at Emma with a genuine smile. "Now we get a second chance."

Emma simply nodded, leaning forward onto her knees before shooting a concerned look at Mary Margaret, who was still standing rigidly.

"That's...wonderful." She offered to the blond, who smiled and nodded, turning when the door opened and Whale came out.

"Well, it's something of a miracle." The doctor announced to the room, looking oddly puzzled.

"He's okay?" Kathryn asked, turning around to face the man, who nodded.

"Physically, he's on the mend. Um, his memory's another issue, it may take time, if at all."

"What brought him back?" I looked from Mary Margaret to Henry, and the latter looked like he was about to explode.

"That's the thing, there's no explanation." Whale admitted. "Something just clicked in him."

"He just got up and decided to go for a stroll?" Emma asked, her voice skeptical.

"He woke up and he was delirious and...his first instinct was to go find something, I guess." The doctor shrugged, clearly at a loss for the reason behind the events.

"Someone." Henry piped up from beside me and I held in a groan, resting my face in my hands.

"Can I see him?" Kathryn asked and Whale nodded, opening the door for her.

"Yeah, of course." He shut the door behind her and walked past Regina, heading for the main part of the hospital.

"Henry, let's go." Regina commanded, looking from her son to me. "Lily, we'll see you at noon tomorrow."

I nodded, wanting nothing more than to go home and try to sleep. I stood up, hugging Henry goodbye before I waved to Emma and, when I passed her, gently touched Mary Margaret's shoulder, though she barely responded.

I passed Regina, giving her an odd stare that she simply smiled innocently at before calling for her son again.

I shook my head and headed out of the hospital, breathing a sigh of relief when I was outside.

It was time to go back to Granny's and, hopefully, not go through another sleepless night.


	4. The Price of Gold

**_Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot and any unrecognizable characters and dialogue._**

**_Well, I apologize for not getting this up sooner but I put this on the back burner while I was writing for 'No one Escapes' _**

**_I hope you can forgive me for going so long without an update and I hope you enjoy this chappie!_**

* * *

_I watched with limited interest as a girl in ragged, tattered clothes despondently swept at the ground, sending my mentor an irritated look. _

_"Why are we spying on a maid?" He simply smiled at me and giggled, twiddling his fingers._

_"You'll see." He waved a hand back at the girl and I watched, still annoyed, as a gold fairy came flying towards her._

_"Do not despair my dear, you will attend that ball." The girl dropped her broom, blue eyes wide as the fairy came to hover in front of her._

_"Who are you?"_

_The fairy enlarged herself, nodding her head regally at the stunned girl in front of her._

_"I'm your Fairy Godmother and I'm here to change your life Cinderella." I raised an eyebrow at the name but said nothing, continuing to watch the conversation in front of me._

_"But...my stepmother told me that I couldn't go." Cinderella protested. "She forbade me to leave."_

_"Your stepmother doesn't have this." Rumple perked up next to me when the fairy produced a golden wand out of her dress and, I sighed deeply, somehow not surprised that Rumple had decided to pull me from Charming's service for the night just to go and get another trophy. _

_Cinderella was looking at the wand with wide, hope-filled eyes and I rolled my own, aware that she probably thought magic was the best thing in the world._

_"This wand has the power to take you to your ball, to your prince and to-" I blinked when she exploded in a shower of gold dust and followed Rumple, who looked as if he was holding back a triumphant cackle of glee._

_"What?!"_

_Cinderella had backed away, gasping with shock and her eyes opening even wider when Rumple came into view, bending down to pick up the wand._

_"What did you do?"_

_"Now, now." Rumple picked the wand up and I cringed at the scraping sound it made. "I got what I wanted. There's no need to be frightened."_

_"You just made a fairy explode." I pointed out and clearly, Cinderella was thinking the exact same thing._

_"No need?" She echoed, her eyes wide with fright. "You just killed my fairy godmother. She was trying to help me."_

_"Was she?" Rumple questioned, bringing the wand up and waving it back and forth, his voice turning sing-song. "Do you know what this is?"_

_Her eyes followed it and she chuckled._

_"Pure magic." Rumple pulled it away, his own eyes glowing. "Trust me, I've done you a favor, all magic comes with a price." He assured, flourishing his hands and I rolled my eyes at his theatrics. He handed me the wand and I slipped it into my cloak pocket. "Go on back to your life, and thank your lucky stars you've still got something to go back to."_

_'My life...it's wretched." She shook her head, her blue eyes despondent and I sighed, realizing Rumple's ulterior motive for killing this fairy when he killed her._

_"Then change it." He snapped. "You can't handle this." He turned around and walked away, leaving me to follow, though clearly Cinderella didn't feel the same as she rushed ahead of us._

_"Wait. Please, wait." She pleaded, standing in front of Rumple. "I can handle it, please. I will do anything to get out of here, anything."_

_"Anything." Rumple repeated, his eyes lighting up in glee as Cinderella nodded, looking at him with uncertainty._

_"Do you know how to use that wand Mister..."_

_"Rumpelstiltskin." He bowed low, flourishing his hands out. "And yes, of course I do."_

_"Then help me." She almost commanded and I smirked, amused that she had some fire in her somewhere. I froze at that thought and pushed it down, unwilling to think about him as it caused spasms of pain to shoot through my chest._

_Rumple slowly stood up from his bow, his eyes still gleaming with delight._

_"Well, if I do and you can indeed shoulder the uh...consequences." He moved closer to her. "Then you'll owe me a favor." He strutted around her and she turned to face him, her voice firm._

_"Name it. What do you want?" Rumple leaned his face closer to hers, his glee from her answer radiating off him._

_"Something precious." He whispered and her brows drew together in confusion. _

_"But, I have nothing." He smirked in response, looking unconcerned. _

_"Oh, but you will. With this wish will come more than you know."_

_"I care nothing for riches. I'll give you anything, just get me out of here." She affirmed and Rumple's grin became even larger._

_"Now we're talkin'." He held his hand out behind him. "Lillith, the wand." I plucked it out of my pocket and handed it off to him, watching as Cinderella's attention finally landed on me._

_"Who are you?" She asked an I simply shook my head before I bowed it to her. _

_"My name is Lillith." Her eyes widened but Rumple grabbed her attention again and I sighed, thankful to not have to deal with that again when he waved he wand with a flourish._

_"I believe we have business, dearie."_

_"Well, how does it work?" The blond asked, staring hungrily at the wand and I inwardly rolled my eyes at the glee emanating off of Rumple._

_"Fear not, my needs are small. And all you have to do," He twisted his wrist downwards, a long contract rolling from his palm. "Is sign of the dotted line. Now, do we have a deal?"_

_Cinderella began nodding almost frantically, a grin blossoming on her face._

_"Yes." She chuckled out, nearly panting from excitement. "Yes, thank you!"_

_Rumple handed the contract to her and turned around, kneeling so she could sign the paper on his back. She quickly signed it, scribbling her name quickly on the paper before pulling back with a soft sigh of relief. Rumple hummed in his throat and stood up, turning around to face the excited looking girl as he handed me the scroll._

_I twisted my hand and it disappeared, earning me an amazed look from the blonde before Rumple drew her attention by beginning to wave the wand._

_Dark purple smoke began to surround her with a soft 'whoosh' and I blinked when it cleared, not surprised by the sight that greeted me._

_Her pale face was flawless and her once messy hair was now it curls, piled at the top of her head and adorned with a glittering, diamond tiara. Her ratty dress was now a blue gown and, even though I didn't enjoy dresses, I couldn't deny the gown was beautiful. Lighter blue gloves adorned her arms and a necklace matching the tiara adorned her throat._

_She gave out a soft gasp,looking down at herself while Rumple smiled softly, clearly pleased with his handiwork._

_"There." She smiled at him before looking down, catching sight of the glass slippers next to her._

_"Glass?" She questioned, almost incredulous and I nodded, allowing a small smile to slip across my face._

_"Every story needs a memorable detail, how about we see how they look?" I prodded and she smiled, lifting up the hem of her dress to slip one dainty foot into the delicate shoes. She proceeded to do the same with the other before dropping her down and smiling breathlessly at the both of us._

_"Now, have a good time," Rumple encouraged, raising a finger in warning. "But be sure to watch the clock." He almost trilled the last sentence and I rolled my eyes, watching the breathless girl as she left, just as the bell tolled in the distance._

_Rumple let out a delighted giggle before strolling off towards the darkness, me at his side. I glanced at him before asking the question I'd been dying to know._

_"What did she just promise you?"_

_His answering grin showed all of his teeth and I had to hold back my smirk at his answer._

_"Her first-born child."_

* * *

"Are you sure we should be out in the open?" I glanced at Emma, ignoring the bell as it tolled behind me, already annoyed at the sound I hadn't heard in twenty-eight years.

Her face was screwed up in irritation at Henry's words.

"Enough sneakin' around. If your mom has a problem with me walking you to the school bus, I am more than happy to have that chat." She waved an arm around and I raised an eyebrow at her gestures, amused at the way she acted when she was angry.

"Careful what you wish for." She shot me a dirty look, to which I simply responded with a mockingly sweet, saccharine smile.

"You're brave." Henry piped up from between us, his small face pleased. "You'll need that for Operation: Cobra. Speaking of, do you think we need code names?"

"Isn't Cobra our codename?" Emma raised an eyebrow at Henry and I sighed, adjusting the purple scarf around my neck.

"That's the mission, I mean us." He explained, pursing his lips in thought. "I need something to call you."

"Oh, umm...well, I don't...you can just call me Emma for now." The blond stuttered, looking mildly bewildered, to my enjoyment. Henry gently elbowed me as we arrived at the bus stop, sending me a mock glare before addressing Emma.

"Okay, well then I'll see you later, Emma." He teased, turning and following the other kids up into the bus. I waved an arm after him, smiling softly before I glanced at Emma, who was looking at me with a confused expression.

"What?" I snapped peevishly, not really appreciating being gawked at. She blinked once, shrugging her shoulders.

"You look different." She tilted her head, eyes widening. "Are you wearing make-up?"

"How observant." I rolled my eyes, irritated that I'd allowed Ruby to attack me with her make-up bag again, as she was far too giddy when giving me 'make-overs'. While I loved my friend, I was quite aware that her outfits and make-up choices were considered borderline slaggish by the majority of the town population.

I turned to go, nearly jumping when Graham decided to pull up besides Emma and me, his siren blaring. I glared balefully at the tall man when he stepped out of his car, crossing my arms.

"What's with the siren?" Emma came to my side, her stance matching mine and Graham smiled sheepishly, shrugging his broad shoulders.

"It's so hard to get your attention." Emma almost smiled at his flirting and I let out a sigh of disgust, brushing past the sheriff.

"Well, if you'll excuse me I need to go and vomit before I get to work."

* * *

"Any reason you look as if you just kissed an ogre?" I slowly turned my head to stare at Gold, my eyebrows going as high as humanely possible.

"What?" I managed, blinking at him in moderate disgust. He simply chuckled, flashing me a grin before he limped across the store, rearranging pieces.

"Your face," he waved a hand around his face mockingly and I hissed at him, though the glare I threw him lacked heat and he knew it, chuckling softly as he reached over to gently ruffle my hair. "You look like you swallowed a particular nasty elixir."

I ducked out of the way, muttering under my breath about cursing him but quickly joined in with his laughter, grateful that the arrival of Emma hadn't dampened our relationship any.

I spent the rest of the day rearranging objects, stopping when I caught sight of a pied cloak, freezing, my body going still as I realized what this was.

It was _his _cloak.

I nearly jumped away from the counter, yanking my hands away from the cloth as if it had burned me. I stumbled into another shelf, nearly knocking it over and Gold rushed out of the back room as fast as his leg allowed, nearly wheezing when he reached my side.

"Lillain, what is it?" I swallowed harshly, pointing at the pied cloak with a trembling finger.

"What the hell is _that _doing here?" Gold's confused eyes darted between my pale face and the cloak, comprehension dawning on his features before he gently pulled me away from the cloak, pushing me to the back room and seating me on the couch.

"It came over when the curse hit," he waved a hand distractedly. "I had it in my castle, like most of the things in the shop." I stared up at him in shock, not understanding why he kept that of all things, especially because it belonged to him. Gold fixed me with a concerned, bemused look. "Why does it bother you so much?"

I inhaled sharply, looking away. I'd never told Rumple of exactly what happened during the three decades I'd been missing, and I certainly didn't plan to do it now.

"It's nothing."

I spent the rest of the day in silence, not responding to Gold no matter how much he prodded at me to tell him why I was so upset. When it came time for me to go and collect Henry, I nearly ran from the store, tossing a quick wave over my shoulder. I also was clenching the cloak in such a tight, white-knuckled grip that not even Gold dared to try and take it from me.

Henry took one look at me before he grabbed my hand, pulling me towards his house.

"Come on, you need some chocolates." As he tugged me along, I allowed a small smile to flicker across my lips.

There were some days that I really loved this little boy.

I spent the night at the mayor's house, Regina clearly all too glad to have me over so I could watch Henry, leaving her to do what she pleased for the night. Henry and I ended up reading his book, cuddling on the couch as I added more detail to the stories he now knew by heart.

I arrived back at Henry's just as Regina was getting ready for a 'council meeting' and took a seat at the dining room table with Henry.

"I know you think otherwise," Regina opened her lipstick, spreading the red on her lips as she looked into the mirror in the hall. "But, I don't enjoy these Saturday City Council meetings. They're just unavoidable." She snapped the tube closed, clearing her throat, and turned around to face Henry and I. "Now, you know the rules."

"Yes on homework, no on tv and stay inside." Henry parroted in a deadpan tone, making me roll my eyes inwardly.

Regina smiled and reached over, gently cupping Henry's chin.

"Good boy." Her tone hardened. "Under no circumstances do you leave this house."

"You mean don't see my mom." I huffed at Henry's lack of tact as Regina's face tightened before she stood up with a sigh.

"She's not your mother, she's just a woman passing through. Now," She gave me a warning glance. "Do as I say or there will be consequences." She sighed again and turned around, heading for the door. "I'll be back at five o'clock sharp."

Henry waited until the car was gone and, unsurprisingly, he jumped up and grabbed his coat and backpack, running to the door.

I let out a deep groan before I jumped up after him, catching up with him after I nearly slammed the door.

"Mary Margaret's?" I questioned and he nodded, speeding up, leaving me to groan again and follow him to his teacher's house.

As we reached the loft, he opened the door without bothering to knock, clearly excited.

"Hey, Emma I was thinking we-" He stopped dead and I nearly ran into him, blinking when I realized that Gold was standing in the room next to Emma.

"Hey, Henry." My boss smiled at Henry while I continued to stare at him. "How are you doing?"

"Gold, why are you here?" I questioned, blinking when his hair moved, catching sight of a thin cut near his temple. I went to his side, wide-eyed and gently touched the wound. "What the hell happened?"

He brushed my hands away with a soft mutter of 'later' before looking expectantly at Henry, who was staring at the pawnbroker in bemusement.

"Umm...Okay." Henry supplied in response, earning a chuckle from Gold.

"Good. Give my regards to your mother and," he started for the door, glancing back at Emma. "Uh, good luck Ms. Swan." He left, leaving the three of us staring after him and, after the door shut, Henry nearly pounced on Emma.

"Do you know who he is?" Emma shot him a weird look as she went to her meager possessions in the small corner.

"Yeah, of course I do." Henry followed her, looking mildly relieved and I riased an eyebrow.

"Who? 'Cause I'm still trying to figure it out."

"Henry." The pale boy glanced at me, his face confused when I stared at him. "You already know who _I_ am, you should be able to work out who Gold is." He blinked at me while Emma glanced over at us, comprehension dawning on her features.

"Oh, I meant in reality." She explained sheepishly, turning back to her boxes and rifling though them.

"Is that all you brought?" Henry asked and I tsked, holding back the desire to flick him on the back of his head for his severe lack of tact.

"Henry," Emma sighed deeply, looking at her boxes. "What are you doing here?" She turned accusing eyes on me, making me bristle indignantly. "Lily, why did you let him come here?"

"You try and stop him." I hissed back, smirking when Emma made a 'fair enough' motion with her shoulders.

"My mom's gone until five." Henry spoke up from between us, his voice hopeful. "I thought we could hang out."

Emma softened, standing and pulling out another leather jacket, blue this time and smiled sadly at him.

"Aww, kid I wish I could but there's something I gotta do." She started for the door and the stairs, Henry trailing after her and nearly begging. I sighed and shut the door, wondering why I was always dragged along with these schemes.

"Who are you after?"

"Ashley." I froze at that, nearly missing a step and tumbling down the stairs. I caught myself on the banister and followed them, determined that I at least went along with Emma now.

"Please let me help." Henry tried again as we made our way to Emma's yellow bug.

"No." Emma sent me a pleading glance, earning a shrug in response. "No, it could be dangerous."

"The pregnant maid is dangerous." He stated with a raised brow, his voice incredulous.

"She assaulted Mr. Gold." Emma defended, her brows drawn together.

"Cool!" I clapped a hand over Henry's mouth, glaring down at him disapprovingly.

"Don't make me take away your comic books." I warned, earning myself a pout from him before Emma drew back his attention.

"This isn't a game, she's desperate."

"How do you know?" Henry challenged and I looked away, quite aware of how Ashley felt as she was best friends with Ruby and me.

"Because I know." Emma countered, opening the door to her car as Henry walked towards the other side, while I trailed after him, nudging him over.

"Well, then let's find her."

"Oh, no, no, no there is no 'let's'. You cannot come with me." Henry stared at her and I groaned again, lightly slamming my head against the top of the car.

"Then I'll look for her myself." He offered and while I usually enjoyed watching arguments, I really didn't want to waste time looking for my friend.

"Then I'll find you and I'll bring you back." Emma countered, crossing her arms and looking far too smug.

"Then you wouldn't be helping the maid." He pointed out and Emma sputtered.

"I am just trying to be responsible here!" She defended and I glanced at him, smirking at his answer.

"And _I'm_ just trying to spend time with you." I silently approved of his guilt trip but slid into the car with an annoyed sigh.

"And _I'm _just trying to stay out of this."

"Oh, that is really not fair." Emma groaned out, opening her door and climbing in the car while Henry plopped himself on my lap, his little face smug as Emma started the car.

"So, the maid. What's her story?"

* * *

_I smiled and clapped as Cinderella and Thomas entered the room and soon enough, I was dragged onto the dance floor by Snow._

_Snow spun around with me, releasing me so I could be swept up into Charming's arms and I waltzed with him, laughing when he dipped me low before spinning me towards Ella, who gripped my hands tightly._

_"I'm so happy you could come." I smiled brightly at her, hugging the bride tightly before Snow grabbed my hands, drawing me into a dance._

_"I'm proud of you too." I stopped mid-spin and stared at my mentor and he sent me a wink before continuing to address a stunned Ella, who was now waltzing with him. She looked uncomfortable and their hissed conversation was too low for even me to hear._

_I spun around with Thomas, pulling away and walking towards Ella in time to hear Rumple's parting words._

_"Your firstborn." He spun a horrified Ella before strutting away, leaving the shell-shocked blond on the dance floor._

* * *

"So this boyfriend of hers, you don't think he's involved in her disappearance?" Ruby stacked the dishes on the table before sharing a disgusted look with me.

"Uh, that would mean that he was involved with her at all, which he isn't." The brunette pointed out, leaning over the table to wipe it.

"He dropped her flat on her arse right after they found out they were expecting." I explained, leaning against the doorway of the Diner.

"Hasn't spoken to her since. Like I said he's a-Hey, hey, hey!" Ruby broke off, teetering towards the street when Bill nearly dropped her car from the tow-truck. "Bill, be careful." She pouted, her voice turning sultry and I rolled my eyes, a small smile spreading across my lips at her antics. "You almost shattered my wolf-thing. It's good luck."

"I'm sorry, Ruby." Bill called, looking abashed as he pointed towards the swinging, red, glass wolf. "But look, it's fine."

Ruby smiled at him tilting her head playfully before Emma commanded her attention again.

"Uh, Ruby what about her family?"

"Oh, uh." Ruby turned, blinking before her lips curled up in disgust. "She's got a stepmom and two step sisters that she doesn't talk to."

"Wait, stepmom, step sisters _and_ she's a maid?" Henry asked, nearly bouncing with excitement.

"Henry, not now." Emma ordered, looking at Ruby expectantly.

"Look," Ruby crossed her arms and poked her hip out. "I don't know what you've heard but it's wrong. Everyone thinks she's not ready to have this baby but she's trying-taking night classes, trying to better herself, trying to get her life together." She looked at Emma earnestly, her made-up face sincere. "Can you understand that?"

"I think so." I raised an eyebrow at the dryness in Emma's voice but said nothing when Ruby spoke.

"Then maybe you should just stay out of it, she's been though enough." Ruby hissed out, her typical attitude back and I nodded at her when she passed. Emma stopped her, earning an irritated look from the girl.

"I've been through it too Ruby and I can help her."

"Then try her ex."

"Where can I find him?" I shared a glance with Ruby before I sighed deeply, earning Emma's attention.

"He lives with his dad."

* * *

After a disastrous meeting with Sean and his asshole of a father, Emma was now driving back to Granny's and pissed off.

"You can't make her double-cross Mr. Gold." Henry's frantic voice came from behind us and I turned around to look at him. "No one's ever broken a deal with him."

"Happy to be the first. If Ashley wants to have this baby she should have it and why the hell didn't you tell me Lily?"

I bristled at her accusing tone, narrowing my eyes in irritation.

"It wasn't my place to tell."

"Well, anyone who wants to be a mother should damn well be able to be one."

Several minutes later, Emma stalked into Granny's where Ruby was wiping down the bar. She glanced up when the bell rang and I looked at her, nearly slumping with relief when she nodded once.

"Why didn't you tell me she sold the baby?" Emma demanded, earning an irritated look from Ruby.

"Because I didn't think it was important and I thought maybe Lily would tell you that little detail."

"Thanks, Ruby." I glared at her, receiving a smirk in response.

"Really?" Emma asked dryly. "Considering that's why she's running away."

"Look, Ashley is our," Ruby gestured to herself and me once. "Friend. We don't like the idea of people judging her."

Emma turned her head and froze, clearly catching sight of the red, wolf charm from Ruby's car.

"Ruby," she started slowly, looking out the window to see the spot where Ruby's car had been earlier. "Where's your car?"

Ruby simply sighed, leaning on the bar as I joined her, perching myself on it to her dismay. Emma turned back to Ruby, her eyes accusing.

"You didn't send me to Sean to find her, you sent me there to give her a head start."

"Look," Ruby hissed, her hackles raising. "I'm only trying to help her."

"Yeah, so am I." Emma countered. "Ashley's in more trouble than you know Ruby. Where is she?" Emma lowered her voice slightly. "Don't make her break her deal with Gold without me."

Ruby shot Henry a glance, her lips twisted in apprehension.

"I can't talk in front of him, he's the mayor's kid."

"Hey! I'm on your side and Lily _works_ for Gold!" Henry defended, puffing up like distressed bird and I held back a small smile at the visual image.

Ruby simply looked at him flatly in response before she stalked to the other end of the bar.

"Henry..." Emma touched his shoulder and pulled him aside, lowering her voice even more. "I need to find this woman and in order to do that, I need you to go home okay? So, please listen to me." She shook her head when his mouth opened, not letting him protest. "Seriously, she's not gonna tell us anything if you're around."

"Okay." Henry nodded, seemingly subdued and he turned to go, Ruby returning to my side when the bell dinged on the door.

"Thank you." Emma called to her son and turned back to the bar. Ruby sighed and leaned against the counter again, her voice barely above a whisper.

"She left town. Said she was gonna try Boston, thought she could disappear there."

"How long ago did she leave?"

"About half an hour ago."

Emma nodded and took off, leaving me to thank Ruby before I hopped off the bar and went after Emma, jumping into the car just in time for Emma to take off down the road towards the outskirts of town.

"What'd she tell you?" I nearly shrieked, clutching my chest as Emma jumped up, looking into her rearview mirror to meet Henry's face.

"Henry, what the hell?"

"You almost gave me a heart attack!" I hissed at him, glaring when he simply shrugged it off.

"Henry, we're going to Boston, you can't come with us."

"You can't go to Boston." Henry stated, looking at me as he spoke. "She can't leave and neither can Lily. Bad things happen to anyone that does."

"I don't have time to argue with you over the curse, I have to get you home." Henry shook his head, his face paler than usual.

"We have to stop her before she gets hurt, we're wasting time."

"He's right, Emma." She darted a glance at me, her eyes widening in surprise as I nodded in agreement with Henry. "Awful things happen to people that try to cross the town line."

"If you drop me off you'll never catch up to her." Emma looked between Henry and I, her eyes searching as Henry continued.

"Henry..."

"Then Mr. Gold will call the police and he'll have her sent to jail."

Emma let out a deep exhale before she nodded at her son, her face grave.

"Buckle up." Henry hastened to follow her instructions while Emma, thankfully, focused on driving again.

"Ashley, what the hell did you get yourself into?"

* * *

_"Why are we down here?" Ella asked as the latch clicked and we descended into the mines, Grumpy at my side._

_"We need a place to keep him." Thomas answered, his arm around his pregnant wife as we traveled further into the tunnels._

_"Rumpelstiltskin is the most dangerous man in all the realms, he needs his won special prison. So, we converted the mines to hold him." Charming came to my side as he spoke, his tone wary._

_"But, how will we get him here? He's eluded all forever." Ella fretted and Grumpy glanced at me, his bushy eyebrows furrowed._

_"Well, we have Lillith." I shot the burly man a glare, hissing in reply._

_"I told you I'm not helping you capture him, Grumpy." I looked around at all of them, exasperated that I needed to explain this again. "I told you, his greatest strength is also his weakness-making deals."_

_"He can't resist making them and we already know who he wants to deal with next-you." Grumpy finished for me, nodding his head at the pregnant blond._

_"We've sent word with one of Snow's bluebirds." I glanced at Charming, still wondering how Snow had such a connection with animals but said nothing, laying a comforting hand on Ella's tense shoulder. "He's accepted a meeting with you. You're going to tell him that Doc heard something with his stethoscope-two heartbeats."_

_I removed my hand just before Thomas placed both of his on his wife's shoulders._

_"You're going to tell him it's twins."_

_"And if he wants both." Charming added._

_"Which he will." I affirmed, my expression grim, and Charming continued, sending me a short glance._

_"You propose a new deal. Grumpy."_

_The dwarf pulled a small, wooden boy from his cloak and opened it, revealing a flamboyant looking quill. Ella blinked at it before looking at us, one hand cupping her rounded stomach._

_"A Quill? I-I don't understand." Her face filed with doubt and I sighed, sharing a look with Grumpy. This entire plan hinged on whether or not Ella could be a convincing actress and so far, I wasn't very convinced._

_"The Blue Fairy cast a spell on it." Charming offered and I shot him a glare at his simple explanation, as it had done nothing to assure the expectant mother._

_"Ella, whoever signs with this quill will be frozen, and their magic will be rendered impotent. Rumpelstiltskin will be powerless and defenseless."_

_Ella continued to stare at the quill and Charming spoke again, clearly trying to reassure her of the plan._

_"All you must do is get him to sigh the contract, Ella." His words turned fierce and I ignored them, as I always did when people spoke ill of my mentor, no matter how true the words usually were. "This man is a scourge, you will be doing the entire land a service."_

_"Should we even use magic? Isn't that what's causing these problems to begin with? What if this magic also has a price?" She shot off the questions and I shared another glance with Grumpy, wondering if I should be the one to arrange the contract if Ella was going to get upset and flustered._

_"Then I will pay it. I will do whatever is needed to save you and our child." Thomas swore and I held back a sigh when I saw some of the tension in Ella's shoulders melt away at her husbands promise._

_"Let's go." We all followed Grumpy further into the mines, stopping in front of a cell. Grumpy stopped, gesturing at it with his torch and Ella stepped closer to it, her eyes wide._

_"I hope you like it. A lot of Dwarf blood went into it." He muttered darkly and I sent him a heated glare._

_"Grumpy!" I hissed out in warning but Ella paid us no mind, staring at the cage._

_"You're sure this will work?"_

_"Once he's in there, he'll never get out. You'll be safe." Charming promised, looking at the cell as well and Thomas came up behind Ella, touching her shoulders again._

_"We can do this Ella." She inhaled deeply and nodded once, her blue gaze fierce._

_"Okay, let's get him."_

* * *

"I told you!" Henry pointed over my shoulder towards Ruby's car, abandoned on the side of the road. Before Emma had even stopped the car, I jumped out of it, calling for my friend.

"Ashley!"

"Lillian!" I rounded the car and caught sight of her on the ground, clutching her stomach. I sprinted forward, falling to my knees at her side.

"Ashley, are you alright?!" She let out a sharp groan, doubling over and I stared at her with wide eyes, yelling over my shoulder for Emma. "The baby's coming!"

Emma's face turned ashen, Ashley letting out another cry of pain before she began to pant hard, her face flushed.

"Get her in the car." Emma commanded and I gripped Ashley's elbow, helping her up and leading her to the car, where a frantic Henry was nearly bouncing in his seat.

After helping Ashley into the front, I jumped into the back and Emma swung the car around, heading back towards the town.

"Is the baby really coming?!"

"No! She's just tired from running a bloody marathon!" I yelled at Henry as Ashley, who had been clutching my hand, squeezed hard enough I heard something crack.

"Oh, yeah." Emma stated, glancing back at us in the mirror before her eyes darted towards Ashley, who was panting and moaning in pain. "Don't worry, the hospital isn't that far."

"No, no, no, no." Ashley chanted, shaking her head wildly and I squeezed her hand. "Take me to Boston, I can't go back there."

I winced at the desperate plea in her voice while Emma shook her head, her face tight.

"Oh, no. We don't have four hours, trust me I know." She pressed harder on the gas while Ashley pleaded with her to turn around, her voice shaky and tearful.

"I can't go back there, please! He's gonna take my baby!" She sobbed, her shoulders shaking and I leaned up towards her.

"He's not taking anything else from you, Ashley. I promise." Emma nodded in agreement, not taking her eyes off the road as we reached the town.

"He won't touch you." Emma swore, her tone hard. "I won't let that happen but do you know what you're asking for, Ashley? If you keep this child, are you really ready?"

Ashley nodded, her face tight with pain as another contraction hit and I gritted my teeth as she squeezed my hand again.

"Yeah."

"Are you sure?" Emma's voice took a frantic tone and her eyes misted over. "Because I wasn't."

I chanced a look at Henry, touching his hand with my free one at the look on his face.

"You weren't?" Ashley questioned breathlessly, her eyes wide when Emma shook her head.

"Nope. If you want to give this kid its best chance, it's gotta be with someone who's ready. So, know what that means. Your whole life is gonna change and once you decide that it's yours, this running away thing can't happen. You have to grow up and you can't ever leave, understand?"

Emma glanced at Henry several times and he squeezed my hand tightly in his as he stared back at his birth mom. Ashley was nodding her head, her voice shaky but determined.

"Yes. I want my baby."

* * *

_I watched silently as Ella tried to get Rumple to sign the contract, keeping everyone cloaked in the area. If this took any longer, I was going to go and make him sign with the damn squid ink myself._

_"I think it's more than fair." She stated, holding up te new contract and Rumple nodded vigorously._

_"Yes! Yes, yes it is." He chirped out, his eyes narrowing. "If what you're saying is true."_

_"It is." Ella affirmed and I raised an eyebrow, sharing a mildly surprised look with Grumpy at how convincing the princess was being. "And all you have to do," she pulled out the quill and offered it to him. "Is sign on the dotted line."_

_"What a lovely quill." Rumple cooed, his gold eyes lighting up. "Wherever did you get it?" He plucked the quill from her hands, examining it slowly as Ella responded, her voice cool but edgy._

_"It's from our castle." Rumple tilted his head and I stiffened, earning a worried look from Charming when I sensed the emotions coming off my mentor._

_"You know the only way to stop me is through magic."_

_"I'm not trying to stop you." Ella chuckled, though it sounded forced even to my ears._

_"Of course you're not." He agreed. "Because as we all know, magic comes with a price, and if you were to use it to say...imprison me, then your debt to me would only grow. And we wouldn't wan that now, would we." He placed the feather under her chin, smirking and Ella jerked he head away from him._

_"Just sign the contract, please." She begged, her voice tired while Rumple smiled mockingly._

_"Are you sure you're happy with this new arrangement?"_

_Ella merely raised the contract in response, her lips compressed into ta thin line and Rumple chuckled in response._

_"Then, so shall it be." He leaned forward, signing the paper and the squid ink from the quill quickly spread, covering him in a glowing blue light from the neck down._

_"Thomas!" Ella pulled back from Rumple's frozen form and I rushed forward, Thomas at my side, to her._

_"No one breaks deals with me, dearie." Rumple snarled, staring at his frozen hand and I held back a shiver at the malice that laced his words._

_"_No one_." His eyes darted over to her, his lips twisting into a sneer. "No matter where you are, no matter what land you find yourself in, I assure you," Thomas wrapped Ella in his arms as the horses drawing the cage came into the grove, Charming and Grumpy with them. I stared at my mentor, meeting his angry, gold eyes passively as he sneered at the princess._

_I _will_ have your baby."_

* * *

I cradled my head in my hands, my legs bouncing as we waited to hear if Ashley and the baby were all right. Emma was pacing in front of the seats, while Henry watched her thoughtfully. One of the nurses had cheerfully wrapped the hand Ashley had been squeezing the life out of and I winced when I moved it, grateful nothing had broken.

"You know, Emma, you're different." She glanced at him, taken aback and continued to pace, grating on my already stretched-thin nerves.

"What's that?"

"You're the only one who can do it."

"Break the curse? Yeah, I know." She answered distractedly, looking at the doors Ashley had gone through. "You keep telling me that."

"No, you're the only one who can leave Storybrooke." I looked up at Henry in surprise while Emma stopped, her face twisted in confusion.

"You left and came and found me in Boston." She pointed out and he shook his head.

But I came back. I'm ten, I had no choice." Henry impatiently explained, his face filled with realization. "But, if anyone else tried to go, bad things would happen."

"He's right." I defended, looking up at Emma, who glanced at me before she focused her gaze back on the snarky ten-year old at my side.

"Anyone except...me." She clarified slowly and Henry nodded.

"You're the Savior. You can do whatever you want." Emma slowly crouched down in front of him, her eyes wide. "You can go." Henry repeated, his voice small and before Emma could reply, a nurse stepped out of the doors.

"Ms. Swan?" Emma stood with a nod while Henry and I turned in our seats. "The baby is a healthy, six pound girl and the mother is doing fine."

Emma sighed happily and I exchanged a wide grin with Henry, stiffening when a voice came from behind us.

"What lovely news." I turned around to see Gold leaning on his cane, his face smug. "Excellent work, Ms. Swan." He praised, ignoring the way Emma's face tightened. "Thank you, for bringing me my merchandise."

* * *

_I stood off to the side as Grumpy and Charming forced Rumple's still body into the cage, darting a glance over to Thomas and Ella before I blocked their voices, stepping towards Grumpy._

_"How long will that last?" Grumpy was glaring at Rumple, his face hard while Rumple never took his eyes off Ella._

_"An hour, at the most." I admitted, drawing my cloak closer to me, a chill shuddering down my spine. "Squid ink doesn't last long in small quantities."_

_"Well, we best get to-"_

_"Ella, what is it?!" I spun around at the sight of Ella doubled over and moved forward, touching her shoulder._

_"What's wrong?" She clutched at her bell, her eyes wide and her voice winded. _

_"Oh, it's-it's the baby." She huffed out, gritting her teeth in pain while Thomas wrapped his arms around her shoulder, his eyes wide._

_"What's the matter?"_

_"Something's wrong." She whispered softly and I stiffened, sharing a look with Thomas, who quickly shook his head._

_"No, no it can't be. It's too soon. It must be the-the stress, the excitement." He glanced at me and I shrugged, feeling somewhat helpless. I was more of a fighter than a healer, though I was much better at healing others than I'd been years previous._

_"Oh." Ella gasped, letting out a whoosh of air. "I'm dizzy."_

_"Sit, sit." Thomas let her to a stone bench, she sat with a deep sigh and I sat at her side, placing my glowing fingers over her stomach._

_"I'll go get you water." Thomas turned and ran towards the well, heading through the trees. I watched him go, an icy chill spreading down my spine before I turned to look at my mentor, noting the glint in his golden eyes._

_"Okay," Ella panted, sighing with relief as I removed my hand from her belly, her own replacing it. "Thomas, it's okay. It's passed." She called out to him, frowning when he didn't respond. "Thomas?"_

_I slowly stood, closing my eyes as she followed, standing at my side._

_"Oh, no." I whispered and she took one look at my face before she sped into the trees, her voice frantic._

_"Thomas!" I followed, catching up to her just as she plucked Thomas' sash off a branch. "Thomas!"_

_She stalked back to the cage, her face filled with cold fury and she waved the sash at Rumple, who watched her passively._

_"What did you do?" She demanded, shrugging off Charming's hand when he approached._

_"What's wrong?" Charming glanced between me and Ella, Grumpy joining us with a worried look on his face._

_"You're highness, what happened?" Ella ignored them and addressed Rumple again, her voice turning frantic._

_"What did you do with my Thomas?"_

_"I haven't done anything, in case you haven't noticed," he glanced down at himself with barely concealed amusement. "I've been otherwise engaged."_

_"Something happened to him. You know, tell me." She demanded, glaring fiercely at him while her grip on the sash tightened. _

_"I have no idea, desire." Rumple countered airily. "But, I did warn you: All magic comes with a price." A smirk slid lazily onto his face and his voice lowered. "It looks like someone has just paid."_

_Charming, clearly sensing that Ella was about to bodily attack the smug man, reached out and pulled her away from the cage, facing her towards him._

_"Don't listen to him, we'll find Thomas." He assured, tensing when Rumple let out a shrill laugh._

_"No you won't! Until that debt is paid, until that baby is mine," His face turned hard and gleeful while Ella's face paled and she swayed, looking faint. "You're never gonna see him again. In this world, or the next, Cinderella."_

_"No." Ella whispered as I gripped her shoulder, turning her away as the carriage holding Rumple began to move away. Rumple called back to her and Ella went stiff in my arm, tears welling up in her eyes._

_"I _will _have that baby!"_

* * *

I looked up from my hands as Emma and Gold talked, sharing a glance with Henry when I realized what Gold was saying to Emma.

"I thought it would makes sense...to you, I mean. If anyone could understand the reasons behind giving up a baby, it's you." Both Henry and Emma stiffened at his calm explanation and Emma bristled at him, her words low.

"You're not gettin' that kid."

"Actually, we have an agreement." Gold replied calmly, leaning on his cane. "And my agreements, are always honored. If not, I'm going to have to involve the police and that baby is going to end up in the system and that would be a pity." He threatened, raising his eyebrows. "You didn't enjoy your time in the system, did you Emma?"

"That was low, Gold." I hissed and he ignored me, causing my eyes to narrow in irritation. Henry shifted next to me and I blinked at him, raising an eyebrow at the disturbed look on his face. HE shook his head quickly, mouthing 'later'.

"That's not gonna happen." Emma spat out, glaring at gold, who simply smirked at her.

"I like your confidence, charming." He mocked, his voice light. "But, all I have to do is press charges. She did, after all, break into my shop."

"Let me guess, to steal a contract." Emma countered smoothly, her eyebrow raising and Gold shrugged.

"Who knows what she was after." Emma leaned closer to him, her voice low and harsh.

"You know no jury in the world will put a woman in jail, who's only reason for breaking and entering, was to keep her child." She smirked when Gold didn't reply, only taking a sip from his coffee, and she pushed on. "I'm willing to roll the dice that that contract doesn't stand up, are you? Not to mention what might come out about you in the process." She crossed ear arms and leaned back while Gold stared at her, his face a mask of calm, though I could tell he was seething.

"Somehow, I suspect there is more to you than a simple pawnbroker, you really wanna start that fight?"

"I like you, Ms. Swan." He answered finally, a smile stretching across his face. "You're not afraid of me, and that's either cocky or presumptuous. Either way, I'd rather have you on my side."

"So she can keep the baby." Emma stated, completely ignoring Gold's words of praise.

"Not just yet, there's still the matter of my agreement with Ms. Boyd."

"Tear it up." I rolled my eyes at Emma's suggestion, fully aware that Gold would never 'just tear' anything up.

"That's not what I do. You see, contracts, deals-well, they're the very foundation of all civilized existence." He explained and Emma gave him a flat stare, unmoved by his words. "So, I put it to you. Now, if you want Ashley to have that baby, are you willing to make a deal with me?"

"What do you want?"

"Oh, I don't know jsut yet. You'll...owe me favor." He nodded, seemingly pleased with his idea and I stared at him unblinkingly, aware that there were limitless possibilities as to _what _that favor could be.

Emma extended her hand, grasping Gold's tightly as they shook.

"Deal."

* * *

"Hey, what's her name?" Emma asked from beside the door while I sat at Ashley's side, gently cooing at the baby in her arms.

"Alexandra." Ashley whispered, her face soft and loving as Emma smiled gently, her own voice soft.

"That's pretty."

Ashley looked at the blond with a sigh, her face relieved.

"Thank you for getting me here." Emma nodded in response as I gently caught Alexandra's tiny fist, smiling as she gripped my finger.

"Mr. Gold was outside, I took care of it." Ashley's face brightened, her eyes wide as Emma nodded. "She's yours."

"She is?" Ashley asked, breathless and when Emma nodded again, her brow furrowed. "What did you do?"

"Made a deal with him." Emma answered, clearly unconcerned with the bargain she'd struck or how it could come back to bite her in the arse.

"Thank you." Ashley whispered, her voice breaking. "Thank you."

I smiled and glanced up at the clock, speaking quickly.

"I hate to break up this lovely moment, but it's almost five and I, for one, like my head being attached."

Emma reacted, spinning around and heading towards the door, Henry at her heels while I brought up the rear.

"We gotta get you home!" Emma grabbed Henry's shoulder while I waved at Ashley, calling over my shoulder.

"Bye Ash! I'll bring Ruby later."

* * *

"Pumpkin." Emma stated and I blinked at her, sharing a confused look with Henry. "My codename," she explained at the sight of out blank looks. "I was thinking, in honor of Cinderella-pumpkin."

Henry simply shook his head, earning a frown from the blond.

"You got a better one?"

"Yep." When he made no move to elaborate, Emma raised an eyebrow, glancing between him and the road.

"Well?" She prompted and he simply smiled, shaking his head again.

"I'm not sure you're ready yet."

Emma pulled up in front of Regina's and I nearly threw the door open, urging Henry.

"Go, go, go, go!"

"Henry, about what you said at the hospital." Henry stopped and turned to face Emma, while I glared at her. "About me being able to leave?"

"Yeah?" Emma smiled softly at him, her voice soft.

"See you tomorrow."

"Okay, cute, now go!" I grabbed Henry's backpack and pulled him with me, slamming the door shut and nearly falling up the stairs and Henry threw his shoes off while climbing. As we reached the top, the door opened and Regina called for him.

"Henry!" I nearly slammed his door open, almost threw Henry on his bed before shutting the door and flying to the computer desk, where I proceeded to throw Henry a comic book, taking one for myself and jump on the end of his bed just as Regina reached the room.

"Henry! What did I tell you?" Regina depend the door, holding one of Henry's shoes in her hand, the other on her hip. "Do not leave your shoes on the stairs, someone would get hurt."

With that, she turned around and left the room, the door closing softly behind her. Henry let out a deep exhale and I proceeded to fall onto my back with a muffled shriek.

"That was far too close."


End file.
